On Dec. 5, 2022, before an estimated crowd of 1,000, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, Dr. Josh Green, then Hawaii’s lieutenant governor, was sworn in as Hawaii’s ninth governor, the seventh Democrat and one who appeared to have a simple task: keep Hawaii on a prosperous, unchallenged course.

The team of Green and Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, a former state representative, had crushed the GOP opposition 63.9% to 34.7% in the general election.

A quick-thinking, articulate 52-year-old emergency room physician, married to attorney Jaime Ushiroda, Green could boast of a 63% approval rating, according to a Hawaii News Now poll at the time. In comparison, the man leaving the Governor’s Office after two terms, David Ige, a former Democratic state legislator, held an approval rating of 22%.

Green’s political popularity was evident. He won the Democratic primary race while taking the controls of a powerful political operation. Hawaii has nearly 50,000 state employees, with 90% belonging to a public employee union. Green carried the endorsement of the biggest public union, the HGEA.

He used his inaugural speech to issue an emergency declaration on Hawaii’s housing crisis that included an executive order streamlining housing construction in Hawaii and suspending various state and local land-use regulations.

Political flourishes aside, Green’s plans to supercharge housing and the rank-and-file economy were upset first by opposition to his emergency housing plans. His housing task force point person, Nani Medeiros, resigned in the face of opposition to both the housing plan and Medeiros herself. Without a specific team leader focusing on housing, Green’s lobbying efforts flagged.

Then catastrophe struck, and Green’s political fate could become an aftershock to the Lahaina tragedy in which at least 100 people died and the Maui town of Lahaina burned in the face of wildfires on Aug. 8.

Asked to comment on the one-year anniversary of his governorship, Green said in an email interview that, “While the wildfire was our largest challenge of the first year, we will maintain our long-term focus on Hawaii’s greatest needs such as solutions on affordable housing and homelessness. Our emergency housing proclamations are in effect and these issues will be a top priority for the foreseeable future.”

Now 53, Green said he intends to run for reelection, when I asked about future political plans.

“Yes, if I do a good job for our community, I will humbly ask for the people’s support for a second term. Jaime and I are so honored to serve as the first family,” Green said.

Observers add that Green is a formidable political leader.

“Green’s signal strength has always been his skills as a communicator, and he’s been quite effective at articulating his administration’s key objectives — housing, tax relief and Lahaina’s resurgence. He was elected, in part, because the public likes his communication style and his willingness to propose some outside-the-box policy ideas,” said political analyst Colin Moore, program director of PACE at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace at the University of Hawaii.

Given the state’s new problems, Moore sees Green as someone who can thrive with the challenges.

“Green has been a remarkably effective governor. Currently, he’s juggling three crises: the Lahaina recovery efforts, the Red Hill fuel spill cleanup, and a complicated housing affordability problem,” Moore said.

But Green still needs caution, Moore said: “The governor has struggled at times with managing expectations effectively. For example, the plan to build 50,000 houses in five years is going to be particularly challenging to achieve.”

This December marks just the first year of his elected term. While the Hawaii economy doesn’t appear as strong as it was a year ago, after that first year at the top, Green today shows he is the state’s most successful political leader.