Duke Aiona

Duke Aiona
Duke Aiona
10th Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
	In office; December 4, 2002 – December 6, 2010
Governor	Linda Lingle
Preceded by	Mazie Hirono
Succeeded by	Brian Schatz
Personal details
Born	James Aiona; June 8, 1955 (age 69); Pearl City, Hawaii, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Vivian Welsh
Children	4
Education	University of the Pacific (BA); University of Hawaii, Manoa (JD)
Signature

James R. "Duke" Aiona Jr. (born June 8, 1955) is an American politician and jurist who served as the tenth lieutenant governor of Hawaii under Linda Lingle from 2002 to 2010. A Republican, he also served both as an attorney and a judge for the state prior to becoming lieutenant governor.

Aiona was the Republican nominee for Governor of Hawaii in the 2010 election, but was defeated by Democrat Neil Abercrombie in the general election. He was the Republican nominee once again in the 2014 election, but lost to Democrat David Ige. In June 2022, Aiona announced that he would be run again for a third time in the Republican nomination for the 2022 election, which he lost to Democrat Josh Green, the incumbent Hawaii Lieutenant Governor.

Background

James Aiona was born in Pearl City, Hawaiʻi. He is of Hawaiian and Portuguese descent on his father's side and Chinese on his mother's side. His mother worked as an elementary school teacher and his father worked as a life insurance agent. He attended Saint Louis School, a local academy of the Diocese of Honolulu. Upon graduating high school, Aiona played basketball at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and pursued a bachelor of arts degree in political science, which he received from there in 1977. Aiona returned to Hawaiʻi and graduated from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1981.^[1]

He began his legal career at the City and County of Honolulu as a deputy prosecutor, and was appointed to the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary in 1990 as a Family Court judge. In 1996, while serving as Circuit Court judge, Aiona became the first administrative judge and primary architect of the Drug Court Program in Hawaiʻi. The program gives non-violent offenders a chance to stay out of prison through active and effective drug rehabilitation.

In 1977, while attending law school, he met Vivian Welsh at a dance in Waikīkī. They married in 1981. They have two sons, Kulia and Makana; and two daughters, Ohulani and Kaimilani.^[2] As lieutenant governor, Aiona was paid $117,312 per annum.^[3]

Electoral history

Aiona and Governor Linda Lingle became Hawaii's first Republican administration to win a second term, and they won with the largest margin of victory in any gubernatorial race in the history of the state.^[4] Aiona ran to succeed Lingle as governor in 2010, but lost to Neil Abercrombie; he ran for governor again in 2014, losing to Democrat David Ige.

2002 Hawaii gubernatorial election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Linda Lingle/James Aiona	194,338	51.6
	Democratic	Mazie Hirono/Matt Matsunaga	177,186	47.0

2006 Hawaii gubernatorial election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Linda Lingle/James Aiona (incumbent)	215,313	62.5	+10.9
	Democratic	Randy Iwase/Malama Solomon	121,717	35.4	−11.6

2010 Hawaii gubernatorial election^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Neil Abercrombie / Brian Schatz	222,724	57.8	+22.4
	Republican	James Aiona / Lynn Finnegan	157,311	40.8	−21.7
Turnout			380,035	55.7

2014 Hawaii gubernatorial election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	David Ige / Shan Tsutsui	181,106	49.45	−8.35
	Republican	James Aiona / Elwin Ahu	135,775	37.08	−3.72
	Independent	Mufi Hannemann / Les Chang	42,934	11.72	N/A
Total votes			366,210	100.00	N/A

2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election
Party		Candidate	%	±%
	Democratic	Josh Green / Sylvia Luke
	Republican	James Aiona / Seaula Tupa'i Jr.
	Independent	TBD		N/A
Total votes			100.00	N/A

References

^ "Duke Aiona - Duke Aiona". Archived from the original on 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
^ "Duke Aiona - Duke Aiona". Archived from the original on 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
^ ‘‘The Council of State Governments,’’ “The Book of the States: 2008” Archived October 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
^ http://hawaii.gov/ltgo/lg^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Office of Elections" (PDF). hawaii.gov. Retrieved 24 August 2015.

External links

James Aiona for Governor official campaign site (Archived)
Official Facebook
Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
Preceded by Mazie Hirono	Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii 2002–2010	Succeeded by Brian Schatz
Party political offices
Preceded by Linda Lingle	Republican nominee for Governor of Hawaii 2010, 2014	Succeeded by Andria Tupola
Preceded by Andria Tupola	Republican nominee for Governor of Hawaii 2022	Most recent

[1] "Duke Aiona - Duke Aiona". Archived from the original on 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2014-10-02.

[2] "Duke Aiona - Duke Aiona". Archived from the original on 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2014-10-02.

[3] ‘‘The Council of State Governments,’’ “The Book of the States: 2008” Archived October 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

[4] ttp://hawaii.gov/ltgo/lg^{[permanent dead link]}

[5] "Office of Elections" (PDF). hawaii.gov. Retrieved 24 August 2015.

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