2002 Hawaii gubernatorial election

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Mazie Hirono, Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
• Ed Case, Majority Leader of the Hawaii House of Representatives
• D. G. Anderson, 1982 and 1986 Republican nominee for Governor of Hawaii, former Hawaii state senator
• George Nitta Jr., radio personality
• Art P. Reyes, perennial candidate
• Joe Fernandez, school bus driver Mazie Hirono was Hawai'i's lieutenant governor from 1994 to 2002 under Ben Cayetano. Cayetano had loss democratic support due to links to a bad economy and bad relationships with labor groups. Hirono had to separate her image from Cayetano. She originally was not in the race for governor, but the race for mayor. Mayor Jeremy Harris was highly expected to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary but didn't run. Hirono then switched to the gubernatorial race, but with a late start she didn't have much time to campaign and raise money.

Ed Case was focused on statewide campaigns to win the primary. He was a fresh face in the election. However, he didn't have full support of Native Hawaiians due to a bill he introduced that would combine the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Andy D.G. Anderson had run for governor before. He was a Republican turned Democrat but also a Native Hawaiian. He effectively took points away from both Hirono and Case.

Results

Hirono beat Case by less than 2% of the votes. However, the Case campaign was ruled a success due to the number of voters he was able to take from a known Democratic face.{{Election box begin no change

Republican primary

Candidates

• Linda Lingle, former Mayor of Maui, 1998 Republican nominee for Governor of Hawaii
• John Carroll, former Hawaii state representative
• Crystal Young John Carroll was running on experience from military and business; he believed Hawaii's citizens needed a governor with both military and political experience. Carroll attempted to use Lingle's non Republican views against her. His campaign appealed to Lingle's opponents in the GOP as Lingle was not a typical Republican with her support for abortion and opposition of the death penalty. A campaign brochure of Carroll states “John Carroll stands with the social conservatives that Lingle has alienated.” Carroll's campaign was unsuccessful due to lack of funding and inability to win over Native Hawaiians and their activists due to suing the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for being “racially discriminatory”.

Results

General election

Campaign

Lingle was critical of the way that Hirono had handled education and economic issues as lieutenant governor; in a TV spot premiered by the Lingle campaign in September, the Republican noted that "Reading scores are now among the worst in the nation. We rank last in jobs creation and first in poverty increase" and argued that Hirono bore part of the blame. Hirono responded that low reading scores could be attributed to the fact that many Hawaiian students — such as Hirono, herself an immigrant from Japan — were learning English as a second language. She also pointed to legislation which she had supported to "improve teacher quality" and boost test scores, and commented that "I'd like to know what Linda has done" to further the cause.

Native Hawaiians’ vote became a deciding factor. Ben Cayetano stopped Public Land Trust (PLT) funds from being transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). Many programs that supported Native Hawaiians could no longer operate without these funds. The OHA held a gubernatorial debate where PLT funds were the main focus. Hirono didn't make any commitments but Lingle promised to restart PLT funds. Lingle's stance on Native Hawaiian affairs was a strong part of her campaign.

Predictions

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Honolulu

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Kalawao (largest community: Kalaupapa)

References

References

1. (19 October 2002). "THE 2002 CAMPAIGN: THE DEMOCRATS; Hawaii Democrats Reeling After Scandals and a Death".
2. (November 7, 2002). "THE 2002 ELECTIONS: HAWAII; In the 50th State, the End of the Democrats’ 40-Year Streak".
3. Blair, Chad. (2011-10-19). "When Mazie Met Linda ... and Ed".
4. "2002 Primary election results".
5. (2002-01-20). "Article clipped from Honolulu Star-Advertiser". Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
6. Blair, Chad. (2022-10-09). "Chad Blair: How Did Republican Linda Lingle Become Governor Of Hawaii?".
7. "It's Hirono vs. Lingle {{!}} The Honolulu Advertiser {{!}} Hawaii's Newspaper".
8. (September 26, 2002). "Lingle Unveils New Political Ad Blasting Mazie Hirono's Record". Gray Television.
9. Wong, Sterling. (2018-08-02). "History shows power of the Hawaiian vote".
10. (October 31, 2002). "Governor Updated October 31, 2002".
11. (November 4, 2002). "Governors Races".
12. "2002 General election results".