WAIPAHU, Hawaii — For Duke Aiona, the issues in the 2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election were the same as the Republican candidate’s past runs at the state’s top elected office: affordable housing, cost of living, homelessness, crime and education.
In a disappointing night for a few hundred Aiona supporters at the Filipino Community Center, the result, too, was identical to the former lieutenant governor’s bids in 2010 and 2014 — a defeat to a Democratic Party adversary.
Lt. Gov. Josh Green and running mate Sylvia Luke came away with 63.9% of the vote, 225,878 to Aiona and Seaula Tupai’s 122,656.
Aiona, who arrived at his headquarters at around 9 p.m., well after the decisive first printout showed Green well ahead, took the stage and told his supporters he wouldn’t have changed anything about his campaign. He filed on the last day he could to be eligible to run, as he said, a calling from God amid several corruption scandals in local politics.
He defeated former MMA star B.J. Penn and Honolulu City Council member Heidi Tsuneyoshi in the Republican primary. But a “Red Wave” that was the talk of national politics leading up to the general election did not materialize.
“My head’s up. I’m proud of what we’ve done. And I’d do it again in an instant,” Aiona told the crowd to applause.
The former attorney and judge maintained his upbeat tone afterward in an interview with Spectrum News. He said he entered the night expecting to win, and his red-clad supporters, outwardly, at least, reflected that sentiment in what remains a deeply blue state.
“I didn’t come in here thinking we weren’t going to be successful. But you know, everything happens for a reason,” Aiona said. “There’s a purpose for everything. When we have the time to discern and reflect upon what transpired in these last few months, I think it will become more clear to us what that purpose is and where we’re going to move from here.”
Housing, particularly for Native Hawaiians, was at the forefront of Aiona’s messaging. He said he hopes Green takes a look at his housing plan, which involves keeping affordable units below market rates even through multiple transactions. He said that Green, who also identified housing as a top issue, is welcome to the concept.
“(People) kept saying, ‘the issues are the same, and it doesn’t have to be this way.’ It could be better,” Aiona said. “We thought our message resonated. We put forward, I thought, the best housing solution that the state has ever seen. I know our message got out there.”
Businessman Keith Robbins, 69, the founder of Bubbies Ice Cream, attended the Election Day party after befriending Aiona in recent weeks. He even sign-waved for the first time in his life in Ewa on Monday.
For the first few hours of the party, Robbins was optimistic that the campaign could pull off what he called “one of the biggest upsets in the history of politics.”
“I think the big thing with Duke is that Duke is listening,” Robbins told Spectrum News. “Josh Green and the rest of them, they got their set agenda and they’re going to help their friends.”
As the first printout, representing the vast majority of the total votes cast, went up on a projection screen, the crowd was hushed as it showed Green with 66.3% of the vote. A band continued to play Hawaiian music.
Aiona’s former running mate, Linda Lingle, remained the last Republican to secure the governorship in 2002 and 2006.
When Aiona arrived with Tupai, he pointed to his partner on the ticket, a 43-year-old pastor and a first-time candidate, as a future leader in Hawaii. He was willing to listen to experience and apply it.
Prayer was a recurring theme of the night.
While acknowledging defeat in his speech, Aiona told Spectrum News he had no plans to call Green that night.
Yet he also offered a conciliatory message.
“I want them to succeed,” he said. “We really need a robust two-party system if we’re going to make Hawaii what it needs to be. There’s a broken moral compass; the spirit of aloha has dissipated.
“When I say ‘they,’ I’m talking about the Democrat party and the control that they have,” he added. “(If) they keep going down the road that they’re doing right now, things are not going to get any better. But again, I wish no ill will on them. I wish them nothing but the best, and I’m always here to support them in any way I can.”
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.