Governor of Hawaii

Hawaii Governor
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Compensation:	$184,860
2025 FY Budget:	$6,319,274
Term limits:	2 consecutive terms
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Hawaii Constitution, Article V, Section 1
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Governor of Hawaii Joshua Green Democratic Party Assumed office: December 5, 2022
Elections
Next election:	November 3, 2026
Last election:	November 8, 2022
Other Hawaii Executive Offices
Governor•Lieutenant Governor•Attorney General•Director of Finance•Auditor•Superintendent of Education•Agriculture Commissioner•Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs•Chairperson of Land and Natural Resources•Director of Labor and Industrial Relations•Public Utilities Commission

The Governor of the State of Hawaii, also called Ke Kiaaina o Hawaii, is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch and the highest state office in Hawaii. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state. The governor is elected by a plurality and is limited to two consecutive four-year terms.

Hawaii has a Democratic trifecta. The Democratic Party controls the office of governor and both chambers of the state legislature.

Hawaii has a Democratic triplex. The Democratic Party controls the offices of governor and attorney general.

See also: Hawaii State Legislature, Hawaii House of Representatives, Hawaii State Senate

Current officeholder

The ninth and current governor of Hawaii is Joshua Green (D). He was first elected on November 8, 2022, and sworn in on December 5, 2022.

Authority

The state constitution establishes the office of the governor in Article V, the Executive Department.

Hawaii Constitution, Article V, Section 1

The executive power of the State shall be vested in a governor.

Qualifications

State Executives
Current Governors
Gubernatorial Elections
2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014
Current Lt. Governors
Lt. Governor Elections
2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014

A governor is:

• required to be at least 30 years old,
• required to have been a resident of Hawaii for five consecutive years previous to election,
• barred from other professions or paid positions during the term.

Hawaii Constitution, Article V, Section 1

No person shall be eligible for the office of governor unless the person shall be a qualified voter, have attained the age of thirty years and have been a resident of this State for five years immediately preceding the person's election. The governor shall not hold any other office or employment of profit under the State or the United States during the governor's term of office.

Elections

Hawaii state government organizational chart

See also: Gubernatorial election cycles by state

See also: Election of governors

Hawaii elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not presidential election years. For Hawaii, 2018, 2022, 2026, 2030, and 2034 are all gubernatorial election years.

Hawaii's governor is not only the youngest chief executive's office in the United States, by date, it is tied with Alaska as the earliest inaugural date in the nation. The inauguration is always held at noon on the first Monday in December following an election.

Hawaii is one of only two states, the other being Tennessee, where the governor is the only statewide elected office.

Term limits

See also: States with gubernatorial term limits

Hawaii governors are restricted to two consecutive terms in office, after which they must wait one term before being eligible to run again.

Hawaii Constitution, Section V, Section 1

No person shall be elected to the office of governor for more than two consecutive full terms.

2022

See also: Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2022

General election

General election for Governor of Hawaii

Joshua Green defeated Duke Aiona in the general election for Governor of Hawaii on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joshua Green (D)	63.2	261,025
		Duke Aiona (R)	36.8	152,237

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 413,262
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Hawaii

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Hawaii on August 13, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joshua Green	62.9	158,161
		Vicky Cayetano	20.9	52,447
		Kaiali'i Kahele	15.0	37,738
	Submit photo	Van Tanabe	0.5	1,236
		Richard Kim	0.4	991
	Submit photo	David Bourgoin	0.2	590
		Clyde McClain Lewman	0.1	249

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 251,412
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kirk Caldwell (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Hawaii

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Hawaii on August 13, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Duke Aiona	49.6	37,608
		BJ Penn	26.1	19,817
		Gary Cordery	10.9	8,258
		Heidi Tsuneyoshi	9.6	7,255
		Lynn Barry Mariano	1.2	903
		Paul Morgan	1.0	796
		Keline-Kameyo Kahau	0.6	469
	Submit photo	Walter Woods	0.6	438
	Submit photo	Moses Paskowitz	0.2	189
	Submit photo	George Hawat	0.2	140

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,873
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Hawaii

No candidate advanced from the primary.

		Candidate	%	Votes
	Submit photo	Keleionalani Taylor	61.9	755
	Submit photo	Caleb Nazara	38.1	464

---

Vote totals may be incomplete for this race.
	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,219
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Gene Tamashiro (L)
• Frank Hinshaw (L)

2018

See also: Hawaii gubernatorial election, 2018

General election

General election for Governor of Hawaii

Incumbent David Ige defeated Andria Tupola, Jim Brewer, and Terrence Teruya in the general election for Governor of Hawaii on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Ige (D)	62.7	244,934
		Andria Tupola (R)	33.7	131,719
	Submit photo	Jim Brewer (G)	2.6	10,123
		Terrence Teruya (Nonpartisan)	1.0	4,067

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 390,843
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Hawaii

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Ige	51.4	124,572
		Colleen Hanabusa	44.4	107,631
	Submit photo	Ernest Caravalho	2.3	5,662
		Wendell Ka'ehu'ae'a	0.9	2,298
		Richard Kim	0.6	1,576
	Submit photo	Van Tanabe	0.3	775

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 242,514
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Clayton Hee (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Hawaii

Andria Tupola defeated John Carroll and Ray L'Heureux in the Republican primary for Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andria Tupola	55.5	17,297
		John Carroll	35.2	10,974
		Ray L'Heureux	9.3	2,885

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 31,156
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Hawaii

Terrence Teruya defeated Selina Blackwell and Link El in the primary for Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Terrence Teruya	47.7	543
	Submit photo	Selina Blackwell	43.7	497
	Submit photo	Link El	8.6	98

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,138
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Green primary election

Green primary for Governor of Hawaii

Jim Brewer advanced from the Green primary for Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Jim Brewer	100.0	454

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 454
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2014

See also: Hawaii Gubernatorial election, 2014

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	David Ige/Shan Tsutsui	49.5%	181,065
	Republican	Duke Aiona/Elwin Ahu	37.1%	135,742
	Independent	Mufi Hannemann/Les Chang	11.7%	42,925
	Libertarian	Jeff Davis/Cindy Marlin	1.7%	6,393
Total Votes				366,125
Election results via Hawaii Office of Elections

Full history

To view the electoral history dating back to 2002 for the office of Governor/Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, click [show] to expand the section.

2010 On November 2, 2010, Neil Abercrombie (D) and Brian Schatz (D) won election as Governor and Lt. Governor of Hawaii. They defeated the Aiona/Finnegan (R), Cunningham/Spence (Free Energy) and Pollard/Kama (nonpartisan) ticket(s) in the general election. Governor and Lt. Governor of Hawaii, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Abercrombie & Schatz 58.2% 222,724      Republican Duke Aiona & Lynn Finnegan 41.1% 157,311      Free Energy Daniel Cunningham & Deborah Spence 0.3% 1,265      Nonpartisan Tom Pollard & Leonard Kama 0.3% 1,263 Total Votes 382,563 Election Results Via: Hawaii Office of Elections 2006 On November 7, 2006, Linda Lingle (R) and Duke Aiona (R) won re-election as Governor and Lt. Governor of Hawaii. They defeated the Iwase/Solomon (D), Brewer/Ing (G) and Daniel/Zhao (L) ticket(s) in the general election. Governor and Lt. Governor of Hawaii, 2006 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Republican Linda Lingle & Duke Aiona Incumbent 61.7% 215,313      Democratic Randy Iwase & Malama Solomon 34.9% 121,717      Green James Brewer & Renee Ing 1.6% 5,435      Libertarian Ozell Daniel & Li Zhao 0.5% 1,850      NA Blank Votes 1.1% 3,923      NA Over Votes 0.1% 513 Total Votes 348,751 Election Results Via: Hawaii Office of Elections 2002 On November 5, 2002, Linda Lingle (R) and Duke Aiona (R) won election as Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. They defeated the Irono/Matsunaga (D), Hill/Stone (NL), Ryan/Vaughan (L), Brewer/Ing (N) and Cunningham/Powell (F) ticket(s) in the general election. Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, 2002 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Republican Linda Lingle & Duke Aiona 51.1% 197,009      Democratic Mazie Irono & Matt Matsunaga 46.6% 179,647      Natural Law Bu La'ia Hill & Tom Stone 0.7% 2,561      Libertarian Tracy Ryan & Ken Vaughan 0.4% 1,364      Nonpartisan James Brewer & Renee Ing 0.3% 1,147      Free Energy Daniel Cunningham & Arthur Powell 0.1% 382      NA Blank Votes 0.8% 2,999      NA Over Votes 0.1% 348 Total Votes 385,457 Election Results Via: Hawaii Office of Elections

Partisan composition

The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of Hawaii governors from 1992 to 2013.

Vacancies

See also: How gubernatorial vacancies are filled

Details of vacancies are addressed under Article V, Section 4 of the Hawaii Constitution.

The Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii becomes acting governor upon the governor's absence from the state or disability from discharging duties, either temporarily or permanently.

Duties

Unlike all but two other states in the union (Tennessee and New Jersey), the only elected state office in Hawaii is the governor. The governor has a wide-reaching authority stronger than many other governors in the U.S. The administrative powers of the Hawaii executive are more centralized than that of most other states with little authority devolved to the county, and unlike other states there are no local school districts.

It is because of this central authority that the governor is locally considered one of the most powerful governors in the United States. The governorship of Hawaii has often been characterized by the Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and various other local media as an "elected monarchy" referring to the most current governors as "King Ben" and "Queen Linda" in headlines during their tenures. Included within the governor's sphere of jurisdiction is the power to appoint all judges of the various courts within the Hawaii judicial system, subject to the approval of the Hawaii Senate.

The governor is responsible for enforcing laws passed by the Hawaii State Legislature and upholding rulings of the state judiciary. He or she is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Hawaii and has the power to use them to execute laws, suppress insurrection and violence and repel invasion. The governor is the chief executive of the State of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided for in the Hawaii Constitution, Article V, Sections 1 through 6.

The state of Hawaii does not have fixed cabinet positions and departments. By law, the governor has the power to create his or her cabinet and departments as needed as long as the executive department is composed of no more than 20 bodies and cabinet members. He or she is also empowered to remove cabinet officers at will, with the exception of the Attorney General of Hawaii, who must be removed by an act of the Hawaii State Senate.

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

• Issuing pardons, reprieves, commutations and forgiving fines and forfeitures. With legislative approval, the governor may also grants pardons for impeachment and restore civil rights suspended subsequent to a conviction from another state.

• Appointing an administrative director who serves at the governor's pleasure.

Divisions

Updated January 14, 2021

• Executive Administration
• Communications
• Homelessness

State budget

Role in state budget

See also: Hawaii state budget and finances

Hawaii operates on a biennial budget cycle, with each biennium beginning on July 1. The sequence of key events in the budget process is as follows:

1. Budget instructions are sent to state agencies between July and August of the year preceding the start of the new biennium.
2. State agencies submit their budget requests to the governor by September.
3. The governor submits his or her proposed budget to the state legislature in December.
4. In April or May, the legislature adopts the budget. A simple majority is required to pass a budget.

Hawaii is one of 44 states in which the governor has line item veto authority.

The governor is statutorily and constitutionally required to submit a balanced budget to the legislature. Though the legislature is not required to pass a balanced budget, the budget must be balanced for the governor to sign it into law.

Governor's office budget

The Office of Governor's budget for fiscal year 2025 was $6,319,274.

Compensation

See also: Comparison of gubernatorial salaries and Compensation of state executive officers

The salaries of elected and appointed executives in Hawaii are determined by the Hawaii Commission on Salaries, which was established by constitutional amendment in 2006. Passage of this amendment by the public added the following language to Article XVI of the state constitution:

Article XVI, Section 3.5 of the Hawaii Constitution

Text of Section 3.5: There shall be a commission on salaries as provided by law, which shall review and recommend salaries for the justices and judges of all state courts, members of the legislature, department heads or executive officers of the executive departments and the deputies or assistants to department heads of the executive departments as provided by law, excluding the University of Hawaii and the department of education. The commission shall also review and make recommendations for the salary of the administrative director of the State or equivalent position and the salary of the governor and the lieutenant governor. Any salary established pursuant to this section shall not be decreased during a term of office, unless by general law applying to all salaried officers of the State. Not later than the fortieth legislative day of the 2007 regular legislative session and every six years thereafter, the commission shall submit to the legislature its recommendations and then dissolve. The recommended salaries submitted shall become effective as provided in the recommendation, unless the legislature disapproves the entire recommendation as a whole by adoption of a concurrent resolution prior to adjournment sine die of the legislative session in which the recommendation is submitted; provided that any change in salary which becomes effective shall not apply to the legislature to which the recommendation for the change in salary was submitted.

The commission consists of seven members selected by the governor (two seats), the President of the Hawaii State Senate (two seats), Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives (two seats) and the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court (one seat). Commissioners meet every six years to evaluate salaries for executive, judicial and legislative officials. Their recommendations go into effect unless the Hawaii State Legislature votes to reject the entirety of the commission's final report.

2023

In 2023, the officer's salary was $184,860, according to the Council of State Governments.

2022

In 2022, the officer's salary was $165,048, according to the Council of State Governments.

2021

In 2021, the governor received a salary of $165,048, according to the Council of State Governments.

2020

In 2020, the governor's salary was increased to $165,048, according to the Council of State Governments.

2019

In 2019, the governor's salary was increased to $158,700, according to the Council of State Governments.

2018

In 2018, the governor's salary was increased to $155,592, according to the Council of State Governments.

2017

In 2017, the governor's salary was increased to $152,544, according to the Council of State Governments.

2016

In 2016, the governor's salary was increased to $149,556, according to the Council of State Governments.

2015

In 2015, the governor’s salary was increased to $146,628, according to the Council of State Governments.

2014

In 2014, the governor received a salary of $143,748, according to the Council of State Governments.

2013

In 2013, the governor's salary remained at $117,312, according to the Council of State Governments.

2010

In 2010, the governor was paid $117,312 a year, the 31st highest gubernatorial salary in America.

History

Partisan balance 1992-2013

See also: Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States and Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Hawaii

Partisan breakdown of the Hawaii governorship from 1992-2013

From 1992-2013, Hawaii had Democratic governors in office for 14 years while there were Republican governors in office for eight years. During the final three years of the study, Hawaii was under Democratic trifectas.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992 to 2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states had divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Hawaii, the Hawaii State Senate and the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1992 to 2013.

SQLI and partisanship

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Hawaii state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied. For the SQLI, the states were ranked from 1-50, with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. Hawaii has never had a Republican trifecta, but has had a Democratic trifecta between the years 1992 and 2002, and again beginning in 2011. The interruption of these two periods came in 2003 with a Republican governor. The state’s highest SQLI ranking (11th) came in 1993 under a Democratic trifecta, while Hawaii’s lowest SQLI ranking (39th) in 1999 and 2001, also under a Democratic trifecta. The state saw a precipitous decline in its ranking between 1994 and 1995, falling thirteen spots from 15th to 28th. Between 1996 and 1997, the state recovered in its SQLI ranking by nine spots before dropping to a new low (39th) in 1999.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 29.46
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with divided government: 33.88

Chart displaying the partisanship of Hawaii government from 1992-2013 and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI).

Historical officeholders

There have been eight governors since 1957. Of the eight officeholders, two were Republican and six were Democratic.

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
1	William F. Quinn	August 21, 1959	1962	Republican
2	John A. Burns	1962	1974	Democratic
3	George R. Ariyoshi	1974	1986	Democratic
4	John Waihee	1986	1994	Democratic
5	Benjamin Cayetano	1994	2002	Democratic
6	Linda Lingle	2002	2010	Republican
7	Neil Abercrombie	2010	2014	Democratic
8	David Ige	2014	2022	Democratic
9	Joshua Green	2022	Present	Democratic

State profile

Demographic data for Hawaii
	Hawaii	U.S.
Total population:	1,425,157	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	6,423	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	25.4%	73.6%
Black/African American:	2%	12.6%
Asian:	37.7%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	9.9%	0.2%
Two or more:	23.7%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	9.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	30.8%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$69,515	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	11.6%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Hawaii. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Hawaii

Hawaii voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Hawaii coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Hawaii
• United States congressional delegations from Hawaii
• Public policy in Hawaii
• Endorsers in Hawaii
• Hawaii fact checks
• More...

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Governor Hawaii. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Governor of Hawaii - Google News

Contact information

The Honorable David Y. Ige
Governor, State of Hawaii
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Phone: (808) 586-0034
Fax: 808 586-0006

External links

• Office of the Governor of Hawaii