What's Hawaiian conservatism like?

[WindowPhil]

Hawaii as a state is, from what I've heard, disproportionately non-white, and disproportionately
non-evangelical. In contrast to the other 49 states.

What's the Hawaii GOP like?

Is it just a bunch of white Evangelical transplants born on the mainland who moved to Hawaii as adults who are nothing like the local population?

Or is it different from anything on the mainland and more "Hawaiian" in character?

[Roll Roons]

Hawaii actually had a Republican governor in the 2000s - her name was Linda Lingle, and she was moderate. I think she was actually Jewish. There was also a guy named Charles Djou who served a partial term in Congress - he was Chinese. He endorsed Biden last year, if that tells you anything. Right now, there are four Republican State Reps - two are white transplants from the mainland, one is Japanese and the fourth is Native. So it's probably fair to say that Hawaii Republicans are a bit more diverse than those on the mainland.

At the same time, I've heard the party's lurched hard to the right in the Trump era. Along with Wyoming, it's the closest thing there is to a one-party state, so it makes sense that any ambitious politician would choose to run as a Democrat and only the hardcore ones are left in the GOP. IIRC, there's actually a decent number of moderate/conservative Democrats in the state.

[vitoNova]

Strong military presence (and a fair share of Hawaiians who enter the armed forces; the ones who don't harbor negative sentiment toward "haoles", at least).  So therefore lots of muhStrongNationalSecurity sentiment.  

At least that's what I imagine.  I've never been there.  It wasn't even a layover point on my way to Japan.  

[mileslunn]

Exit polls apparently showed Trump won the native Hawaiian vote but with very small sample size that is questionable.  But with a lot being Mormon or Evangelicals, I imagine Trump did better amongst native Hawaiians than population as a whole.  In fact Hawaii might be only state where Trump did better amongst non-whites than whites as whites there tend to be quite heavily Democrat.  Many in tourism sector or other areas that lean heavily in progressive direction.  Of Asians, I believe Japanese community is one of the most reliably Democrat but Filipino community fairly conservative so while Biden probably won them, I am guessing Japanese in Hawaii voted more heavily for Biden than whites, but Trump did better amongst Filipinos than whites although still lost them.

[WindowPhil]

Right now, there are four Republican State Reps - two are white transplants from the mainland, one is Japanese and the fourth is Native. So it's probably fair to say that Hawaii Republicans are a bit more diverse than those on the mainland.

From my very brief research:

Of the four members of the house of representatives, Two appear to be moderate Republicans, one is a Mormon, and one is described on his campaign site as "a devoted family man and active member of his church" and wikipedia says he's made headlines for being vocally opposed to Same Sex Marriage and Comprehensive Sex Ed (even though the issues on his campaign website only talks about moderate things like "Upgrading School air conditioning", "Jobs", and "Road Repair").

The lone GOP member of the state senate's campaign website isn't very thorough, but the issues section mentions "Family Values", "Supports The Police", and "Dedicated To The Community" (with no further elaboration). So he sounds like a fairly standard, rank and file Republican nationally.

I'm curious what makes the 5 districts they come from (House Districts 17,36,40,45 and Senate District 19) vote Republican. So if anyone has any insight into that I would be interested in hearing.

[H. Ross Peron]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

[WindowPhil]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

I wonder how that was calculated.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

I'm pretty sure Hawaiian Whites vote to the left of Asians or Natives.

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

I'm pretty sure Hawaiian Whites vote to the left of Asians or Natives.

HI Asians and Native Hawaiians are still fairly D though. And Niihau isn’t a good proxy for the overall native vote. No idea how HI whites voted in 2020 (I don’t entirely trust reagente’s estimates), but they were supposedly 39% Trump in 2016.

[Agonized-Statism]

Mostly military.

[VPH]

There's a decent Mormon population in Hawaii (like 5% of the population iirc) and I imagine they tend to run more conservative. Outside of that, there's a pretty big military population.

[H. Ross Peron]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

I'm pretty sure Hawaiian Whites vote to the left of Asians or Natives.

Asians maybe, but native Hawaiians are generally quite Dem exceptions like Niihau notwithstanding. Note that Honolulu County is usually the best county for Republicans. IIRC, Chinese in Hawaii were more Republican while the Japanese were generally Democrats.

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

I'm pretty sure Hawaiian Whites vote to the left of Asians or Natives.

Asians maybe, but native Hawaiians are generally quite Dem exceptions like Niihau notwithstanding. Note that Honolulu County is usually the best county for Republicans. IIRC, Chinese in Hawaii were more Republican while the Japanese were generally Democrats.

IIRC the strongest R swings from 2016 to 2020 were in more heavily Filipino areas. They seem to be in between Japanese and Chinese Hawaiians in terms of voting patterns, but are probably(?) closer to Japanese? Judging from 2020 polls, Chinese are Tilt/Lean R while Japanese are very D.

I wouldn’t be surprised if more of Hawai’i “conservatism” is found among Ds than Rs.

edit: maybe this?

I wonder if we’ll have any other states legalizing this year. Rhode Island, Delaware, and Hawaii all have a democratic trifecta, and so might be more likely than either with a Republican governor or legislature.

Rhode Island would be the likliest. The Governor of Delaware is anti-legalization and has implied that he'd veto it, while Hawaii won't do it for some reason.

Delaware will certainly legalize in the next 2-4 years though

Yeah, Hawaii has the same problem (anti-legalisation Governor). I’m pretty sure one of the majority leaders was quoted saying that they’d basically wait until the Governor leaves office in ‘23, and then lobby his successor.

[Del Tachi]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

Presumably because Hawaii had a system of plantation agriculture much like the Antebellum South, you mean?  I'm a tenth-generation Mississippian and have some family connections to Hawaii.  And I think active duty military tend to vote in their home state, not where they're stationed FWIW   

[H. Ross Peron]

I've read before that whites in Hawaii come disproportionately from Southern backgrounds, presumably because of its large military population. I'd imagine they constitute part of the Republican vote in the state.

Presumably because Hawaii had a system of plantation agriculture much like the Antebellum South, you mean?  I'm a tenth-generation Mississippian and have some family connections to Hawaii.  And I think active duty military tend to vote in their home state, not where they're stationed FWIW   

The original statement on this was a tweet and I think its author was speaking more of military personnel who permanently relocated there after discharge not active-duty personnel.