David Ige was elected Hawaii’s next governor yesterday.
Ike, a Decmocrat, beat out Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, the Republican, 49 percent to 37 percent. Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, the Hawaii Independent Party candidate, was at 12 percent.
Ige, 57, will be take office. December. Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui will be his lieutenant governor.
Ige, the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, was unknown to many voters when he announced last year that he would challenge Gov. Neil Abercrombie. but he won over voters with his steady, even-handed style.
In Hawaii’s other hotly contested race Democrat Mark Takai defeated Republican Charles Djou, 52 percent to 48 percent, to earn a spot representing urban Honolulu in the U.S. Congress.
In the other race for Congress, voters gave U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard a second term representing Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, covering rural Oahu and the neighbor islands.