o Full election results

State Sen. David Ige, riding disenchantment with Gov. Neil Abercrombie in the primary and party loyalty among Democrats in the general election, was elected Hawaii’s governor on Tuesday.

The unassuming electrical engineer from Pearl City claimed Washington Place by overpowering former Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, the Republican, 49 percent to 37 percent with much of the vote counted. Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, the Hawaii Independent Party candidate, was at 12 percent.

Ige, 57, will be sworn in as Hawaii’s eighth governor in December. Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui will be his lieutenant governor.

"There are a few more votes to be counted, but this is the first election since the passing of Sen. (Daniel) Inouye," Ige told Democrats at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. "And, really, this is about the party of the future."

With just shy of a majority, the state senator still has to reassure voters who are unfamiliar with him that he has chief executive leadership ability. But the more voters learned about him during the campaign, the more they were comfortable.

"He was able to get this vote because he is a very good person. Everybody began to feel that he would become such a good governor," said former Gov. George Ariyoshi, who appointed Ige to fill a vacant state House seat in 1985. "He’s a very honest person and that’s what I think came across."

"It’s very good for Hawaii because he’s a good person and he has ideas. An election is not about individuals. It’s about what the person believes the person can do and I feel very strongly that he’s going to become a very good governor."

Aiona, speaking to Republicans at Dole Cannery’s Pomaikai Ballrooms, conceded and thanked his rivals. He lamented the low voter turnout, especially among young people, and urged his supporters to stand by their principles and values.

"We believe in a two-party system. We believe in balance," he said. "Trust, respect and balance is not just mere rhetoric. It’s not a pure slogan. It’s something that we believe in. And that’s why you’re all here today.

"And that’s something that this campaign can be very proud of, very, very proud of. And so, you know, we will forge ahead."

Joyce Shimabukuro, who is studying accounting at the University of Hawaii, favors abortion rights and said she was influenced by Aiona’s stand against abortion. "That was one of my main concerns," she said.

Shimabukuro said she liked Ige’s personality, which, for many, is a departure from the gloss of typical politicians. 

Charles Kaneshiro, a meat cutter who lives in Kona, said he believes Ige and other Democrats are interested in protecting the middle class on issues such as wages and health care. "I trust the Democrats more than the Republicans," he said.

Megan Hanlin, a contractor who lives in Ewa Beach, backed Aiona. "He most closely represents the values that I follow and believe in, especially when it comes to faith-based values," she said.

Ige, the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, was unknown to many voters when he announced last year that he would challenge Abercrombie. The state senator initially struggled to raise money or attract visible support from prominent interest groups other than the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

But Ige’s steady, earnest demeanor and stew-and-rice campaign style won over voters and was a perfect contrast to the volatile Abercrombie, who spent $5.5 million only to become the first governor in state history to lose in a primary.

"Improbable isn’t the word for it," Dan Boylan, a MidWeek columnist and former history professor at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu, said of Ige’s rise. "Who would have thunk it?"

After the historic primary, the general election was much more subdued, and Ige benefitted from the state’s long Democratic tradition. With Ige leading in public-opinion polls, money and political support from labor, business and environmental interests shifted toward the Democrat. He also received strong backing from Japanese-Americans, seniors and union households, a reliable coalition for Democrats since statehood.

Ariyoshi was Hawaii’s first Japanese-American governor, but Ige is the first Okinawan, a point of ethnic pride for the state’s large and vibrant Okinawan community.

"He’s got a `D’ in back of his name," Boylan said, adding that "you never bet against a Democrat in Hawaii. You’re a stupid man if you do."

Abercrombie showed up at the Democrats’ victory celebration at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii Tuesday evening to offer his congratulations. Asked what he would do when he is out of office, the governor said "right now I’m walking my dog, maybe later I’ll do some writing." 

Ige acknowledges he is not a polished public speaker and may not have some of the natural political skills of previous governors. But he is genuine, friends and lawmakers who have worked with him say, and straightforward when it comes to problem solving.

"He’s a kind of no-nonsense problem-solver," said state Sen. Les Ihara, Jr. (D, Moiliili-Kaimuki-Palolo), who was part of Ige’s "Chess Club" faction in the Senate.

Ige, Ihara says, "communicates through his actions. So his biggest strength is he walks the talk."

Ige and Hannemann were the first major candidates for governor to voluntarily agree to the state’s $1.5 million campaign spending limit for matching funds since Linda Lingle, a Republican, in 1998.

Ige raised $2.2 million for the primary and general election. Aiona raised $1.4 million, while Hannemann brought in about $348,600.

While the candidates mostly focused on positive themes, such as empowering school principals and teachers, improving public hospitals, and lowering the state’s high cost of living, mainland super PACs injected a harsher tone through millions of dollars worth of negative advertising.

The American Comeback Committee, a super PAC aligned with the Republican Governors Association, devoted $2.2 million to Hawaii on behalf of Aiona. The group criticized Ige on taxes and the state’s troubled health insurance exchange.

Hawaii Forward, a super PAC tied to the Democratic Governors Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, directed $1.8 million to the islands. The group faulted Aiona for teacher furloughs and his opposition to abortion rights.

The NEA Advocacy Fund, a super PAC of the National Education Association, spent more than $299,200 on ads attacking Aiona on teacher furloughs when he was lieutenant governor during the Lingle administration.

Aiona, who lost badly to Abercrombie in 2010, was encouraged when he led both Ige and Abercrombie in polls taken before the primary. Elwin Ahu, a former judge and a senior pastor at New Hope Metro, Aiona’s running mate, also had the potential to energize religious conservatives who were upset with the special session on gay marriage last year.

But the Republican footprint in the state demands that GOP candidates for statewide office sweep independents and convert moderate Democrats. A three-way split among major candidates raised the possibility that Aiona could win with a plurality, but that scenario required Hannemann to be more competitive.

Lynn Finnegan, a former state House minority leader who was Aiona’s running mate four years ago, complained of "fear tactics" in the Democrats’ ads on teacher furloughs and abortion. She said Lingle had sought to be fair with public-sector labor unions on furloughs, which were alternatives to straight pay cuts or layoffs. She claimed Democrats were trying to scare women by suggesting Aiona would singlehandedly change abortion law, which he could not.

Finnegan said "there were hundreds of thousands of dollars that came in to protect the seat of a Democrat, even to the point where they said falsehoods to win."

Hannemann, who also suffered a significant loss to Abercrombie in 2010, took the alternative path. Calculating that he would have trouble in a Democratic primary — the former mayor had also lost to U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, in a primary for Congress in 2012 — he ran under the banner of the newly created Hawaii Independent Party.

"People are very much entrenched in the two-party system, particularly the older voter demographic, the 60 to 90 age group," said Michelle Del Rosario, the party’s chairwoman. "It’s very difficult for them to get their hands around a concept of an independent candidate, particularly for governor."

Hannemann and Lester Chang, a former city parks director who was his running mate, hoped they could appeal to independents as well as Democrats and Republicans fed up with partisan politics.

"The way we ran this campaign, it was about ideas. It was about issues," Hannemann told supporters at his campaign headquarters in Kalihi. "It was a solid platform to improve the lives of our people."

Jeff Davis, a solar contractor and talk radio host who ran as a Libertarian, was at 2 precent with much of the vote counted.

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Staff writers Kristen Consillio, Mike Gordon, Nelson Daranciang and Richard Borreca contributed to this report.