The UHPA election effort crossed party lines and was, overwhelmingly, successful. There were three particular things that might be noted.
- Republican voters stayed home. Hawaii had the lowest voter turnout in history and yet had one of the highest system-wide victory for Democrats–ever.
- Constitutional Amendment ONE. Although other unions also supported this, they did so following the UHPA lead.
- The re-election of Governor Linda Lingle. Governor Lingle’s re-election vote total was 4,933 votes MORE than that of the next highest vote getter, Democratic Senator Daniel K. Akaka. Yet Republicans lost a total of three seats at the local (House) level, where UHPA voters were far lower in number. One conclusion that can be drawn from this is that many Democrats, and UHPA members are primarily Democratic, voted for Governor Lingle, and Republicans, for a number of reasons, stayed home.
UHPA endorsed Governor Linda Lingle (R), Senator Daniel Akaka (D), Representative Neil Abercrombie (D), Mazie Hirono (D), Russell Kokubun (D), Shan Tsutsui (D), Les Ihara, Jr. (D), Brian Taniguchi (D), Carol Fukunaga (D), Suzanne Chun-Oakland (D), Donna Mercado Kim (D), Norman Sakamoto (D), Will Espero (D), Jill Tokuda (D), Dwight Takamine (D), Jerry Chang (D), Clifton Tsuji (D), Faye Hanohano (D), Robert Herkes (D), Josh Green (D), Cindy Evans (D), Joseph Souki (D), Bob Nakasone (D), Angus McKelvey (D), Joe Bertram III (D), Kyle Yamashita (D), Mele Carroll (D), Hermina Morita (D), James Tokioka (D), Roland Sagum III (D), Lyla Berg (D), Barbara Marumoto (R), Calvin Say (D), Scott Nishimoto (D), Scott Saiki (D), Kirk Caldwell (D), Della Au Belatti (D), Sylvia Luke (D), Corinne Ching (R), Karl Rhoads (D), Joey Manahan (D), John Mizuno (D), Glenn Wakai (D), Lynne Finnegan (R), Blake Oshiro (D), K. Mark Takai (D), Alex Sonson (D), Roy Takumi (D), Ryan Yamane (D), Marilyn Lee (D), Marcus Oshiro (D), Jon Riki Karamatsu (D), Rida Cabanilla (D), Kymberly Pine (R), Maile Shimabukuro (D), Michael Magaoay (D), Ken Ito (D), Pono Chong (D), Cynthia Thielen (R), and Tommy Waters (D)—and made max contributions to all who were eligible to receive…did a fair GOTV—-And was a “major” support group behind Constitutional Amendment 1, BOR.—and won them all.
We lost ONLY George Yamamoto (D), A.J. Halagao (D), Anne Stevens (R), Mark Moses (R), and Michael Kahikina (D).
