Sylvia Luke has won the six-way Democratic race to be Hawaii’s next lieutenant governor, triumphing over other top contenders Ikaika Anderson and Keith Amemiya.
Luke will join the ticket of current lieutenant governor Josh Green, who has clinched the race to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor.
“The thing that really resonated was that people wanted someone like me with experience to be able to bring this state to the next phase of what we can do,” Luke told the Star-Advertiser following the results. “I’m just so thankful to the voters.”
Seaula Tupai Jr., a minister from Hilo, won the Republican Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor after taking a commanding lead over Rob Burns and Tae Kim. The winner will join the general election campaign of James “Duke” Aiona, who easily won the Republican primary for governor.
This year’s roster of top candidates all campaigned on the need to make Hawaii more affordable for local families, stressing, in particular, the need for affordable housing.
Luke, the longtime chair of the powerful House Finance Committee and an attorney, touted her experience in government and overseeing the state budget. She pointed to her success at helping push through legislation that increased the minimum wage and made the state’s earned income tax credit refundable and permanent, which puts extra money in the pockets of low-income residents, while vowing to advocate for policies such as affordable preschool for all.
Anderson, a former Honolulu City Council member, also campaigned on cost-of-living issues, while emphasizing the need to address the state’s ongoing homelessness crisis and create a more sustainable tourism model.
Amemiya, an executive director for Central Pacific Bank who has never held public office, also emphasized the need for more affordable housing. He said there needed to be aggressive enforcement of illegal vacation rentals, “vacancy taxes” to make sure rental homes don’t sit empty and limits on permits for luxury developments and high-end second homes.
Anderson and Amemiya also zeroed in on corruption at the state Capitol, vowing to promote such policies as term limits and bringing more transparency to the inner workings at the Legislature. Earlier this year, former Sen. J. Kalani English and former Rep. Ty Cullen pleaded guilty to felony charges after admitting to accepting bribes from a wastewater executive in exchange for legislative favors.
Sherry Menor-McNamara, head of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, also campaigned on the need to make Hawaii more livable for local families, emphasizing the need to expand job opportunities, support local businesses and reduce the cost of doing business in Hawaii.
The lieutenant governor doesn’t have many official duties other than signing name change orders and processing other government documents, while also being on standby if the governor dies or is in some way incapacitated. But the office is often used as a springboard to higher office. Green used it effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic to showcase his leadership skills and gain widespread name recognition. Both Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono served as the state’s lieutenant governor before being elected to the U.S. Senate.
Luke has said that her extensive government experience will help her elevate the office of the lieutenant governor to be more effective.
This year’s Democratic primary for lieutenant governor has been among the most competitive races, with a Star-Advertiser poll in July showing Luke, Anderson and Amemiya in a statistical tie. But on Saturday night Luke sailed ahead, beating out Anderson by 10 percentage points and securing 37% of the vote, with most of the ballots counted. Anderson had 27% and Amemiya 23%.
The lieutenant governor’s race has also been rife with mudslinging.
Luke was the target of well-funded attacks by Be Change Now, a super PAC and the political arm of the Hawaii Carpenter’s Union, which threw its support behind Anderson. As an independent expenditure committee, Be Change Now has had no limits on how much funding it can accept or spend, but cannot coordinate campaign activities with any candidate.
The Super PAC unleashed a barrage of negative ads against Luke in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s primary, accusing her of driving up the cost of living for Hawaii’s working families and trying to link her to corruption scandals in the state Legislature.
Luke has said that the attacks were driven by her opposition to long-term state funding for Honolulu’s troubled rail project.
Saturday’s results indicate that the attack ads may have turned off Hawaii voters, helping Luke secure a substantial victory over her opponents.
“I think this showed a clear rejection of the negative campaign and mudslinging campaign that was done,” said Luke after being declared the winner on Saturday. “And I believe this will change different super PACS from allowing these types of tactics in the future.”
While the Hawaii Carpenter’s Union threw its support behind Anderson, Luke racked up the majority of support from local unions. In addition to scoring a recommendation from the Hawaii State Teachers Association, she received endorsements from The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly; Hawaii Government Employees Association; Patsy T. Mink PAC; Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons Union, Local 630; Plumbers and Fitters UA, Local 675; Americans for Democratic Action; ILWU Local 142; IBEW Local 1186; United Public Workers, AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO; and the General Contractors Association of Hawaii.
The Republican primary race for lieutenant governor included first-time candidates with little name recognition.
Tupai is a senior minister at Overcoming Faith Center who previously worked as an instructor with the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy. He’s run on a campaign of putting the needs of Hawaii residents first and said he would push for lower taxes, better education and government transparency. He also criticized the government lockdowns during the pandemic.
Tupai secured 51% of the vote, beating out Rob Burns, a Realtor from Hawaii Kai, who won 36% of the votes and Tae Kim, a Honolulu attorney, who secured 13%.
The lone nonpartisan candidate is Charles (Kale) Keoho.
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