In the wake of the November elections, former Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona this week remembered the divine inspiration for his Republican campaign for governor.
"You know when God called me, all he said was, ‘You will run,’" Aiona told a We Believe worship service Thursday night at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. "He didn’t say you were going to win.
"I just figured that one out," he said to laughter. "And I wonder — should’ve asked him."
Aiona lost to Gov.-elect David Ige, a Democrat. He earned fewer votes, and a lower share of the vote, than he did in his unsuccessful run for governor against Gov. Neil Abercrombie in 2010.
But at the We Believe rally, both Aiona and Elwin Ahu, a former judge and senior pastor at New Hope Metro who was Aiona’s running mate, characterized the election as a victory despite the results.
Aiona said he and Ahu did not hide their Christian values during the campaign, and he urged the faithful to do the same in their public lives.
"Do not be afraid. Do not be ashamed of that," he said. "This is America. We talk about constitutional rights all the time. But how many of us quiver, how many of us fear, how many of us are afraid to live what we believe in and to pass that on?
"Well, I tell you what, all of you in this room are not afraid of that. And for that I am truly, truly appreciative and grateful for. And I thank you — again — for that."
Aiona, who was famously competitive as a sportsman, said politics is not a game. He said he hoped all of the people in Hawaii would work together for the common good. "And that means the people who are in office right now, also," he said. "We don’t want them to fail, because if they fail we all fail.
"We want them to succeed. We pray for them to succeed."
But Aiona was critical of the political dominance of Democrats and what he suggested as a political slant in the news media. He said his campaign was about bringing balance to the political process.
"And we don’t get that right now," he said. "We don’t get that in government. And in many ways we don’t get that in the media. We don’t get that. We’ve got one newspaper that has an editorial board that is bent one way. How do you get fairness and balance?"
Ahu told the faithful that "I really believe that God took this campaign to exactly where he wanted us to be. I mean, we’ve said all along that this is not about elections, this is not about politics, this is about ministry."
Ahu showed a video clip of KITV’s election night coverage, including a split screen shot of Aiona and Ahu dancing at the GOP’s watch party at Dole Cannery while a staid Ige thanked Democrats at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.
"This entire campaign, and what we saw on election night, was a way that God wanted to show the world that when you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior, that even in the face of what the world would see as defeat, that there was victory," he said.
Ahu said he wanted to launch a campaign — "I care. I will." — that would partner with other organizations on issues such as deterring human trafficking and helping homeless children.
Aiona said he and Dawn O’Brien, his campaign spokeswoman and a former radio show host on KAIM-FM The Fish, a Christian station, are creating a talk radio show. He said the show would likely air on weekday afternoons, but said he had not yet signed a contract with a station.
Aiona, who was a reluctant candidate for governor this year after losing in 2010, did not close off the possibility of a future campaign. He said he told his wife, Vivian, that lightning was "really going to have to strike this time."
"I need affirmative confirmation this time," he said. "And I’m going to ask that second part of the question, ‘Are we going to win? Are we going to win?’ And if the Lord says no, then I’m not going to run again."
