Tokuda announces plans to run for lieutenant governor

State Sen. Jill Tokuda announced today she is running in what will likely be a crowded field of contenders next year seeking to be Hawaii’s next lieutenant governor.

Tokuda, 41, was the chairwoman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee until she was ousted in May in a power struggle triggered by the high-stakes debate over the Honolulu rail project. The leader of the Ways and Means Committee has control over the budgets that dictate how all state money is spent.

She was first elected to the state Senate in 2006, and has also served as chairwoman of the senate Education committee. She worked as an aide to U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono when Hirono was lieutenant governor.

“I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support I’ve received on my candidacy for lieutenant governor,” Tokuda said in a statement released today. “Hawaii deserves leaders that will look forward and work together for our families, for our children and for our future.”

The furor over the Honolulu rail project helped to raise Tokuda’s political profile this year. The 20-mile rail line is vastly over budget, and Mayor Kirk Caldwell asked state lawmakers this year to bail out the project by extending the half-percent excise tax surcharge on Oahu to provide billions of dollars in additional funding for rail.

Tokuda sharply and publicly criticized the city’s management of the project, and she rejected Caldwell’s request. Instead, she proposed an increase of only about $300 million to help shore up the finances of the project. She later amended that position, and agreed to an increase in the state hotel room tax for 10 years as a way to boost funding for rail.

Those decisions proved to be politically dangerous because most of Tokuda’s Senate colleagues supported the excise tax extension that Caldwell had requested. The heated rail debate proved to be a catalyst for Tokuda’s ouster as Ways and Means chairwoman, but that chain of events also elevated Tokuda’s status among some rail critics.

Tokuda, (D, Kailua-Kaneohe) said she was grateful for the support she received after her ouster this year, but said she had already been making plans to run for higher office before the 2017 session of the Legislature.

There is little direct power or responsibility associated with the lieutenant governor’s office, but it has served as a stepping for Hawaii politicians including former Govs. George Ariyoshi, John Waihee and Ben Cayetano, and also for U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.

Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in March it was “very doubtful” he would seek re-­election. Instead, Tsutsui said he is considering a run for Maui mayor next year, and said he tentatively planned to resign early as lieutenant governor to campaign.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa says he has already been laying the groundwork for his own campaign for lieutenant governor, and state Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-­Kailua-Kona) has announced he also plans to run. Other political figures who have said they are considering the lieutenant governor’s race include state Rep. Joe Souki, 84, and state Sen. Will Espero, 56.