Perhaps the most shocking election result of 2014 came in Hawaii's Democratic primary for governor, when little-known state Sen. David Ige demolished Gov. Neil Abercrombie by a stunning 66-31 margin. That's the kind of result you usually only see when an incumbent is mired in scandal, but there were none to speak of here. All the more remarkably, Ige was badly underfunded, and even the most astute local observers we spoke to had a hard time identifying just why Abercrombie had grown so unpopular—but indeed he had, and it led to an extraordinary upset.
Could something like that happen again? Ige went on to a comfortable 49-37 win that fall, and polls (like this one and this one) have since shown him slightly above water with voters—not the kind of numbers that suggest a real vulnerability. But Democratic state Sen. Josh Green seems to think there might be an opening, saying on Wednesday that he might run against Ige.
In speaking publicly about his plans, Green identified housing costs, homelessness, and the governor's failure to meet his promise to install air conditioners in 1,000 public schools by the end of last year as his top concerns. But, said Green, "I really do want the administration to succeed because I love what I'm doing," so this might be a way of goading Ige to focus on Green's key issues. It could also be a way to raise his profile, since Green also says he might run for lieutenant governor next year, or for governor in 2022, when Ige would be term-limited.
Green, a physician, has been in the legislature for 14 years, so he doesn't have the classic profile of a junior up-and-comer. But he does have a lot of money in the bank: As of the middle of last year, Green had $507,000 in his campaign account, far more than Ige ($318,000) or the current lieutenant governor, Shan Tsutsui ($239,000). (Tsutsui's unhappy in his current role, and he might run for mayor of Maui in 2018.) In fact, Green's got more on hand more than any other state or local candidate in all of Hawaii, and it sounds like he wants to use it.