Hawaii police union endorses Aiona for governor

After planning to remain neutral in the governor’s race, the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers union instead on Tuesday endorsed Republican candidate James “Duke” Aiona — a former two-term lieutenant governor, Honolulu deputy prosecutor and Circuit Court judge — for governor.

SHOPO represents over 2,700 law enforcement officers across Hawaii.

In a statement, SHOPO President Robert “Bobby” Cavaco said, “Judge Aiona will bring much needed leadership, transparency, and integrity to law enforcement and public safety at every level and this will unite our residents to better ensure a safe, healthy, and positive Hawai‘i. Judge Aiona stands for law and order and police officers feel compelled to stand with him as he works with us to improve public safety.”

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Neither of Aiona’s leading GOP challengers — Council member Heidi Tsuneyoshi and Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer BJ Penn — immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green, the leading candidate on the Democratic Party ticket, has received the majority of endorsements from unions and other organizations in the gubernatorial race, along with the bulk of campaign contributions.

Ten Republican candidates are running in the Aug. 13 Republican primary to move on to the Nov. 8 general election race for Hawaii’s next governor against the Democratic Party nominee.

The three Republican candidates with the highest name recognition are perhaps the most diverse and offer distinct choices for party members.

With such an array of choices, whichever candidate receives the most votes in the Republican primary will likely provide a key measure of the mood of Republicans in Hawaii this year.

The candidates with the highest name recognition are:

>> Penn, 43, who has echoed some of the populist messages that appeal to supporters of former President Donald Trump. Penn has repeated Trump’s 2020 urging that voters ignore their Hawaii mail-in ballots and vote in person on Election Day to reduce voter fraud. As Hawaii shifted in the last election to mail-in ballots with a few open polling stations on Election Day, every voting site across the state was overwhelmed and forced to stay open late, delaying election returns for more than four hours.

Penn has a criminal record that includes assaults, drunken driving and a no-contest plea in 2005 to assaulting a police officer, for which he was sentenced to a year of probation.

>> Honolulu Council member Heidi Tsuneyoshi, 47, gave up likely reelection to her nonpartisan Council seat to instead run for governor. Her vast Council District 2 runs from Mililani Mauka to Mokuleia on one side of the North Shore to Kahaluu on the other.

Tsuneyoshi has campaigned on a more traditional, fiscal-conservative Republican message and has been a frequent skeptic of the city’s troubled rail project. She was raised in a Republican household but previously told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that she grew up as an independent thinker and has voted for politicians from different political parties.

>> Aiona, 67, regularly cites his Christian faith as he makes his third run for the state’s highest office after winning back-to-back Republican primaries but losing consecutively to Neil Abercrombie and then to Gov. David Ige.