Incumbent Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano defeated Republican challenger Linda Lingle, the mayor of Maui, to win the governor's contest in Hawaii, a race dominated by economic issues. Ben Cayetano Hawaii was largely a victim of both reduced military spending and the Asian financial crisis that cut down tourism, the state's largest industry. And the state never really pulled out of the recession the way the rest of the country did.
Bankruptcies are up, and unemployment in Hawaii is higher than the national average.
Hawaii's money troubles had voters in this traditionally Democratic state looking for change in this election and that gave Republicans their best chance of holding the state's governorship in 36 years. Republican Lingle told voters if they believed the economy is getting better, they should vote for her opponent. Otherwise, they should vote for her. Cayetano is the nation's first Filipino-American governor. His poll numbers slumped in the final stretch of the campaign, but he raised a lot of money and had the powerful Democratic-union political machine behind him.