Vicky Cayetano stepping aside from business responsibilities to focus on Hawaii governor’s race

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vicky Cayetano plans to step down as the head of Hawaii’s largest commercial laundry company to focus on her campaign, she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream show today.

Cayetano currently serves as president of United Laundry Services’ Hawaii division, which has hotel and hospital clients across the state.

“Sometime in the next couple of weeks there will be an announcement that I will be stepping out of my role as president of our company, a position that I’ve been privileged to have for 34 years,” she told Spotlight Hawaii. “I’ll be stepping out of that role into what we call a senior advisor and our company will be very happy to welcome a new president (whom Cayetano did not identify). … He’s going to lead the next team of leaders for our company. So that will allow me to focus on this campaign even more. Running for governor is a full-time job and that’s what I’m going to be doing and I’m looking forward to getting out there even more.”

If elected, Cayetano would be only Hawaii’s second female governor and previously told the Star-Advertiser that she would be the country’s first Asian-American female governor.

Cayetano, who is married to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, has never run for elected office and more recently served as co-chair of the successful 2020 campaign of Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, another business executive and first-time politician.