Newly sworn-in Lt. Gov. Doug Chin says he can responsibly balance the job of being second in command of state government while campaigning for Congress.

The state’s former attorney general was sworn into office Friday as lieutenant governor to replace Shan Tsutsui, who abruptly resigned earlier in the week and triggered a succession protocol prescribed by state law.

The attorney general is third in line to fill the lieutenant governor post if it becomes vacant, after the president of the state Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives. Senate President Ron Kouchi turned down the position Monday when Tsutsui announced his resignation, and House Speaker Scott Saiki declined it the next day.

Gov. David Ige, who said he looks forward to “continued collaboration” with Chin, has named First Deputy Attorney General Russell Suzuki to serve as acting attorney general.

Chin, who was appointed attorney general in 2015, entered the race for the U.S. House seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in late December, his first attempt at elected office. He had said he would step down in mid-March as the state’s top law enforcement officer to campaign full time after some questioned the ethics of soliciting campaign donations while serving as attorney general.

“I want to assure the public that I expect to hold myself to the highest standards,” Chin said in an interview Friday. “In this case I feel my situation as LG isn’t any different from previous (lieutenant governors) that ran for Congress or ran for governor, or legislators that are running for Congress, or mayors that ran for governor or prosecutors that ran for mayor. I think every elected official out there that is running for office in 2018 is in the same situation, and I know we all expect the highest standards from each other.”

Chin has been one of the more high-profile members of Ige’s Cabinet as a vocal opponent of decisions by President Donald Trump’s administration on immigration and other issues. He said he’s proud of the work he’s done challenging Trump’s policies, especially the president’s attempts to ban immigrants from certain countries from traveling to the U.S.

“I feel like something special that occurred was being able to tell Hawaii’s unique story and have Hawaii take a leadership role in several national issues,” he said. “Obviously, the travel ban case was one that has captured the nation’s attention, and was something that was very significant … because it really focused on telling the whole country about the strength of Hawaii’s diversity and inclusiveness.”

As lieutenant governor, Chin said he wants to continue Tsutsui’s efforts on a farm-to-school initiative to get more locally grown food into public school cafeterias. He also wants to look into opioid painkillers, as a growing number of states are suing drug companies over increased addictions and overdose deaths.

“It’s definitely a trend that we don’t want to see spike over here in Hawaii,” he said. “I have been examining it from the legal end because there’s been a lot of lawsuits that have been filed around the country. … From a policy level, I think I can work with (Health Director) Dr. (Virginia) Pressler on different initiatives.”

The salary for the lieutenant governor as set by the state Commission on Salaries is $151,776, the same as so-called Tier 1 Cabinet members, including the attorney general