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Hawaii’s Republican Party met in its annual statewide convention last weekend. According to a party representative, there were several hundred members, delegates and supporters in attendance at the gathering at the Hawaii Convention Center.
Unfortunately for Hawaii’s minority political party, it is continuing to hold on to its decidedly unpopular political ranking.
Perhaps one of the few positives is that there are other states with a more lopsided perception.
According to the most recent Pew Research Center national survey, only four states and the District of Columbia have a voting age population that considers itself more Democrat or Democrat-leaning than Hawaii.
The four are Maryland, Massachusetts, Massachusetts and Vermont. The poll reports Hawaii as considering itself as 51% Democrat. The most Democratic state is Vermont at 57%.
All that means little to Lynn Finnegan, the former state representative and two-time House Republican leader, who is now also serving her second term as state GOP chairwoman.
Former Hawaii GOP Gov. Linda Lingle talked her into running for office and supported Finnegan’s unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2010.
The party, with one member in the state Senate and four in the state House, has gone from infinitesimal to nearly invisible, but Finnegan still musters up an alternative to the Democratic tidal wave.
She says Hawaii’s suddenly booming economy is not a sure thing.
“We (GOP) agree that we are heading in the wrong direction regarding a stable economy,” Finnegan said in an interview last week.
In Hawaii, the GOP has a role to play by “helping people feel economically secure … this is something in common with both the national and local Republican Party.”
Economics aside, the GOP is overshadowed by two things: the dominance of the strong conservative wing of the party controlling Republican politics, and the backlash of supporting former President Donald Trump.
Finnegan said that the conservative edge of mainland Republican politics is tempered by its local Hawaii roots.
“In Hawaii, we have a local culture and the Aloha Spirit and that is what we have representing us,” Finnegan said.
“They are the kind of people who are right of center, but we embrace our local culture of loving people and treating people well and with respect,” Finnegan said. “We care about people. I think it is something that is a Hawaii thing.”
As for Trump, Finnegan put the argument aside, saying there is enough time to debate Trump and the Republican Party when and if he runs for president again.
The main issue for Hawaii Republicans is joining or continuing with a political party with so little clout and ability to change things in Hawaii.
Finnegan’s GOP loyalty still has to answer the question of “Why?”
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
