“Never Trump” was never an issue in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s Republicans, like those in other parts of the country, are backing the billionaire investor and reality television majordomo as he campaigns for president.

All that will be highlighted next week at the four-day GOP National Convention in Cleveland.

In March, a record-breaking 15,672 GOP voters participated in the Hawaii GOP presidential caucus.

Party officials said the number of voters represented a 53 percent increase from the 2012 presidential caucus.

Donald Trump, who used his political outsider reputation as validation for his campaign, won 43 percent of the Hawaii vote and will have 11 delegates and nine alternates out of the 19-delegate Hawaii contingent at the convention.

The Ohio convention is expected to be a political magnet for protest groups and the locus of political controversy, but Hawaii’s Republicans will be adapting the usual strategy when Hawaii goes to a national convention.

“Hawaii is a big part of the convention as we will be passing out lei we have paid for and shipped fresh to our hotel. That attracts visual attention,” reports Trump delegate Warner Sutton.

Other Hawaii delegates, such as veteran Adrienne King, an established defense attorney who has attended four national conventions, was thinking about skipping this one until she started hearing about Trump.

“I wasn’t interested and then this thing came up with Trump. Now I think it is going to be an avalanche for him,” King said, discounting the descriptions of Trump as one of the least popular GOP candidates in modern American politics.

A Washington Post analysis of the race notes that 75 percent of women voters view Trump unfavorably.

“So do nearly two-thirds of independents, 80 percent of young adults, 85 percent of Hispanics and nearly half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents,” said the Post, reporting the results of a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

“I don’t know about that stuff about the women’s vote,” King said. “We are finding people who haven’t voted in 10 years and they are voting for Trump.

“I think Trump can take Hawaii, we’ll see. He’s a patriot, he makes you feel proud of your country.”

Since becoming a state in 1959, Hawaii has only twice voted for a Republican presidential candidate: Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984. And four years ago, native-son Barack Obama slammed Mitt Romney by a 71 percent to 28 percent margin.

Despite that, King is sold on Trump and is already in Cleveland, attending GOP platform committee meetings.

But, King added, she also plans to be working the Hawaii convention angle and has put up a big stock of chocolate macadamia nuts “because everyone loves something from Hawaii.”

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.