Race expanding for Hawaii's next lieutenant governor

Oct. 13—The 2022 race for the open seat of Hawaii's next lieutenant governor is heating up for a job that has no clear day-to-day responsibilities but has served as a recent platform to the governor's mansion and the U.S. Senate.

The race so far has attracted former state Sen. Jill Tokuda, who represented the Windward side and lost to current Lt. Gov. Josh Green in the 2018 Democratic Primary ; and former City Council Chairman Ikaika Anderson, who resigned his Windward Council seat in 2020 three months before his term was scheduled to end. Anderson announced his candidacy on Tuesday.

Potential candidates who have filed campaign "organizational reports " with the state Campaign Spending Commission include Joey Manahan, a former legislator and city councilman who is currently spokesman for the city's rail project ; former legislator and Councilman Ron Menor ; and Menor's first cousin, Sherry Menor-­McNamara, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.

But Manahan told the Hono ­lulu Star-Advertiser that he is "definitely " not running while Menor-­McNamara told the Star-­Advertiser that she is only "considering " entering the race. Ron Menor said in a text to the Star-Advertiser that, "I am seriously moving in the direction of running for Lieutenant Governor. ... I should be making an announcement in the coming weeks."

Green has emerged as the early, runaway fundraising leader to replace his boss, Gov. David Ige, who is prevented by a term limit from seeking a third-consecutive term.

The election of lieutenant governor is particularly interesting in Hawaii because the governor and lieutenant governor run independently in the August party primaries, not as a ticket. Unlike the race for Honolulu City Council, the governor and lieutenant governor also only have to win a plurality of votes in the primary to advance to the subsequent November general elections, where they then join forces to campaign as a team.

In 2018, Green beat Tokuda—his Senate colleague who had formerly been chairwoman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee—with just over 30 % of the vote. Tokuda received just over 27 % of the vote in what was a crowded five-way race.

"They're independent in the primary and there's been plenty of examples of governors and lieutenant governors who then didn't get along with each other, " said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center. "Green and Ige have had their share of public disagreements. It does sometimes create some awkward and difficult situations."

Take Ige's first lieutenant governor, Shan Tsutsui, the former state Senate president who found himself with little to do under Ige "and just walked away, " said political analyst Neal Milner.

All state House and Senate seats are up for election in 2022 and neither the governor nor lieutenant governor jobs will have an incumbent.

Especially with the lieutenant governor's race, "when there's an open seat it'll be a more interesting election, " Moore said. "An open seat means it's going to be competitive."

Depending on who gets elected Hawaii's governor next year, the job of the next lieutenant governor could be frustrating like Tsutsui's experience or a launching pad, as it was for people such as Ben Cayetano who went on to become governor ; Brian Schatz, who was named by then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill the U.S. Senate seat left open by the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye ; or Green, a Hawaii island emergency room physician who frequently contradicts Ige when it comes to messaging on COVID-19 and homelessness.

With Schatz and Abercrombie, "that was a very close relationship where they're personally and politically close, " Moore said.

Abercrombie is also endorsing Anderson in his run for lieutenant governor.

Former Gov. Linda Lingle also appeared to have a good relationship with Lt. Gov. James "Duke " Aiona even though they represented different political and social demographics. She was Jewish, single and a fiscal conservative. Aiona, a Hawaiian family man, was outspoken on socially conservative issues, often based on Christian values, Moore said.

"That was a pretty productive relationship, " Moore said. "There weren't big public fights."

"In some cases you have two very ambitious politicians—people who don't like sharing the stage, " Moore said. "The lieutenant governor in Hawaii doesn't really have any responsibilities. That's why it's such a terrific office for someone like Josh Green.

"Most lieutenant governors want a signature program, like A-Plus (after-­

school programs ) under Cayetano, " Moore said. "For Green it was the COVID crisis and before that it was homelessness."

With the candidates so far based on Oahu, the challenge for Tokuda and Anderson will be realizing "that people have very short memories and candidates are often surprised how few people recognize their names "—especially for a statewide election, Moore said.

"Tokuda and Anderson are Windward-based, Oahu politicians and they're both out of office, " he said. "They'll have to reintroduce themselves to the public."