# Politics of Hawaii

United States presidential election results for Hawaii :
| Year | Republican | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | Third party(ies) | Third party(ies) |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| 2024 | 193,661 | 37.48% | 313,044 | 60.59% | 9,996 | 1.93% |
| 2020 | 196,864 | 34.27% | 366,130 | 63.73% | 11,475 | 2.00% |
| 2016 | 128,847 | 30.04% | 266,891 | 62.22% | 33,199 | 7.74% |
| 2012 | 121,015 | 27.84% | 306,658 | 70.55% | 7,024 | 1.62% |
| 2008 | 120,566 | 26.58% | 325,871 | 71.85% | 7,131 | 1.57% |
| 2004 | 194,191 | 45.26% | 231,708 | 54.01% | 3,114 | 0.73% |
| 2000 | 137,845 | 37.46% | 205,286 | 55.79% | 24,820 | 6.75% |
| 1996 | 113,943 | 31.64% | 205,012 | 56.93% | 41,165 | 11.43% |
| 1992 | 136,822 | 36.70% | 179,310 | 48.09% | 56,710 | 15.21% |
| 1988 | 158,625 | 44.75% | 192,364 | 54.27% | 3,472 | 0.98% |
| 1984 | 185,050 | 55.10% | 147,154 | 43.82% | 3,642 | 1.08% |
| 1980 | 130,112 | 42.90% | 135,879 | 44.80% | 37,296 | 12.30% |
| 1976 | 140,003 | 48.06% | 147,375 | 50.59% | 3,923 | 1.35% |
| 1972 | 168,865 | 62.48% | 101,409 | 37.52% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 91,425 | 38.70% | 141,324 | 59.83% | 3,469 | 1.47% |
| 1964 | 44,022 | 21.24% | 163,249 | 78.76% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 92,295 | 49.97% | 92,410 | 50.03% | 0 | 0.00% |
The politics of the U.S. state of Hawaii are typically dominated by the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party of Hawaii was formed in 1900, by supporters of Queen Liliʻuokalani. For the first half of the twentieth century, the Republican Party ruled comfortably, dominating local politics until the end of World War II. After the war, Honolulu police officer John A. Burns began organizing plantation laborers, including many Japanese and Filipino Americans and built a coalition that gradually strengthened the Democratic Party in Hawaii. This culminated in the Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954, after which Republican political influence in the islands was greatly diminished.
As a result, Hawaii's congressional politics have been dominated by Democrats since statehood in 1959. The state has elected just one Republican U.S. senator, Hiram Fong, who served from 1959 to 1977, and two Republican House members. The rest have been Democrats. Only two Republicans have been elected governor, and Linda Lingle was the only one to be re-elected, in 2006.
Hawaii has supported Democrats in every presidential election in which it has participated except 1972 and 1984, when incumbent Republican candidates won 49-state landslides. In 2008, Barack Obama, the first candidate to have been born in Hawaii, won the state by his largest margin, receiving 72% of the vote to 27% for his Republican rival John McCain. Obama again won Hawaii by a overwhelming margin in 2012, winning by 71% to 28% over Republican Mitt Romney. Hawaii again gave a higher vote share to Obama than any of the 49 other states. Democratic candidates have continued to carry the state by large margins since.

## State government

The Hawaii state government is composed of a bicameral system, with the Hawaii senate and the Hawaii House of Representatives making up the upper and lower houses.

## Federal representation

Hawaii is currently represented in the Senate by Democrats Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz. In the House, Democrats Ed Case (HI-1) and Jill Tokuda (HI-2) represent the state.
* Brian Schatz U.S. Senior Senator (Democrat)
* Mazie Hirono U.S. Junior Senator (Democrat)
* Ed Case U.S. Representative HI-01 (Democrat)
* Jill Tokuda U.S. Representative HI-02 (Democrat)
Hawaii is part of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the San Francisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

## County government

Each of Hawaii's four counties is governed by a mayor as follows:
City and County of Honolulu - Rick Blangiardi County of Hawaii - Mitch Roth County of Maui - Richard Bissen County of Kauai - Derek Kawakami

## Hawaiian nationalism

Hawaiian nationalism is focused on producing a national identity, distinct from that of the United States. Most Hawaiian nationalists have argued that the Hawaiian race and their descendants should govern the islands as a constitutional monarchy. Hawaiian nationalism is not limited to Native Hawaiians but has included other groups including whites and Asians; Walter M. Gibson was an early defender of Hawaiian sovereignty.
A green, red and yellow flag, the Kanaka Maoli flag was designed around the 1990s and has gained popularity, probably by Gene Simeona. According to Dr. David Keanu Sai of the University of Hawaiʻi, it had no historical significance before this time, when it was reported (and widely believed) to be an "original" flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii destroyed by the British. Dr. Sai stated that it was in fact a modern design, part of a "reawakening" of awareness of the Kingdom's history; he added that the present-day Hawaiian state flag was also the Kingdom's flag (in the 19th century), designed by King Kamehameha I.
* Ka Hae Hawaiʻi flown upside down, symbolizing distress, used by Hawaiian separatists
* Kanaka Maoli flag, popular in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement since the 1990s
Most citizens of Hawaii do not share the same sentiments of the sovereignty movement with public opinion largely in favor of remaining part of the United States. A 2014 poll by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser found that only 6% of respondents supported the creation of a Native Hawaiian nation while 63% being against it.