Posted on 11/04/2010 10:07:49 AM PDT by Liberals are Evil Socialists!
Hawaii now has most one-sided state legislature in the country
By Mark Niesse Associated Press
POSTED: 05:32 a.m. HST, Nov 04, 2010
Hawaii's overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature is now the nation's most one-sided, although Republicans managed to pick up one seat.
With 88 percent of legislative seats held by Democrats, Hawaii passed Rhode Island as the nation's most politically monolithic state, according to an Associated Press analysis of National Conference of State Legislatures' figures.
Democrats will control all but nine seats in Hawaii's 76-member Legislature following Tuesday's election. Republicans gained eight seats in Rhode Island to give it the second-most lopsided House and Senate, with 84 percent Democratic control.
The addition of just one Republican to the Hawaii Legislature fell far short of the Republican Party's hopes in a year in which 10 races had no incumbent and the party had targeted about 15 seats.
"Republican voters didn't turn out," said Dylan Nonaka, executive director for the Hawaii Republican Party. "We thought a lot of races should have been much closer."
Republicans gained two seats in the Hawaii House but lost a seat in the Senate, shrinking their number in that chamber to one.
Of the 10 seats without an incumbent, Republicans won two.
"A lot of the Democratic candidates just outhustled the Republican candidates," said Speaker of the House Calvin Say, D-St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise.
In the House, former Maui police captain and Republican George Fontaine defeated incumbent Joe Bertram. Bertram, D-Makena-Kihei, was criticized for appearing in court last year to defend a friend convicted of Internet enticement of a minor.
The other Republican elected to the House was Gil Riviere, a mortgage broker and Oahu North Shore Neighborhood Board member, who won an open seat vacated by Vice Speaker of the House Michael Magaoay. Magaoay, D-Schofield-Kahuku, unsuccessfully ran for state Senate.
"The Republican Party needs to get more candidates who are more active in the community," Riviere said. "We've got to have more people step up with more of a track record, but there are a lot of Democrats in the state."
Besides Riviere, the other Republican to win an open seat was Aaron Johanson, who replaces Republican Lynn Finnegan. Finnegan, R-Mapunapuna-Foster Village, unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor.
In the Senate, former Democratic Party Executive Director Pohai Ryan won a race to replace Republican Fred Hemmings. Hemmings, R-Lanikai-Waimanalo, is resigning.
Democratic Rep. Marilyn Lee was holding on to a 17- vote lead over Republican Shaun Kawakami, a former youth pastor.
"We're still essentially a blue state," said Lee, D- Mililani-Mililani Mauka. "The history of the labor unions, and also the state's diversity and the years and years that many different ethnic groups have struggled to be recognized as equal, that plays a role."
My cousins live in Hawaii and for the life of me I can’t figure them out LOL!
stoners always vote for social programs
Stuck on liberal stupid. At least Hawaii has nice beaches.
Rhode Island best rethinl their love affair with job killing Dems.
I think most native Hawaiians agree. They have never been happy being part of the U.S.
Seems remarkable that Lingle ever got elected governor. They say she wants to run for the Senate in 2012. I wonder if she would have a shot if Akaka retires. He is 86, like Inouye?? I can’t believe guys that old want to continue running.
It is a shame a good guy like Djou got beaten just because he has an R after his name. The closed mindedness is amazing.
Should have never been a state.
I think the only reason it became one was because of Pearl Harbor.
Should have been at most a commonwealth like PR.
At least Inouye is still in good shape. Akaka was senile when he ran last time (and won). And Patsy Mink was brain dead through most of her last election, fully dead by the time they voted her back into office. Hawaii is a strange place (but if you overlook the politics, it really is a wonderful place).
Hard to say if Lingle has a chance for senator right now. The unions and the legislature opposed absolutely everything she did, even issues where they agreed in principle. Thus they can run on “Lingle’s fault nothing got done.” Unfortunately, a lot of people fall for that.
“have never been happy being part of the U.S.” I’m sure they like the H3 and other goodies they have gotten!
Urban myth. If I were too lazy to do anything productive and had to be poor and homeless, I'd want to go to Hawaii where the climate is comfortable year round and the welfare is generous. If other states were willing to spring for one way tickets to Hawaii for their indigents, Hawaii's population would quickly balloon and every plane would be full coming in and empty going out.
Actually, in the MA Senate, the GOP has now dropped to 4 out of 40 seats, so that is 90% Democrat. It is offset as a percentage by the fact the GOP doubled their numbers in the House from 16 to 32 out of 160, from 90% to 80%, but that’s still an obscene margin for a state that doesn’t vote that Democrat as a whole (nor has party registration that lopsided, either).
No, the undercurrent is very much racial historically: the big white business owner plantation mentality is the only reason these people have black-balled Republicans. Teh50s revolution was entirely racial and has carried forward for generations since exactly along racial lines.
Absolutely!
We can do very nicely with 49 states...very nicely indeed.
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