Pro-LGBT Neil Abercrombie's Huge Win in Hawaii Dem Gov Primary

Good news to report from Hawaii. Neil Abercombie, the pro-equality former longtime congressman, is now the Democratic nominee for governor after a resounding primary win on Saturday, reports the Star-Advertiser.

Abercrombie crushed former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann 60 percent to 38 percent statewide and took Oahu, the Big Island and Maui while narrowly losing on Kauai. A Star-Advertiser analysis of the primary election by state House district found that Abercrombie won all but four districts: Wailuku and Kahului on Maui and Lihue and Koloa on Kauai. Abercrombie, who represented urban Honolulu in Congress for two decades, dominated on Oahu. Some of his largest margins were in districts in Hawaii Kai, Pacific Heights, Kailua and his home in Manoa. Hannemann, who served as Honolulu mayor for the past six years, lost every district on his home turf and only managed to take a handful of precincts in Pearl City, Kapolei and Kahuku.

Abercrombie supports full marriage equality. Hannemann opposed HB444, the bill that would have allowed same-sex and opposite-sex couples the right to enter into civil unions.  Hawaii's twice-divorced and lame duck Republican Gov. Linda Lingle cowardly vetoed HB444 last July to "protect" traditional marriage.

Neil Abercrombie will face the stridently anti-gay Republican Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona in November.

Comments

[Jim]

This is very good news for Hawai‘i. In more good news:

1. Openly gay Majority Leader in the Hawai‘i House of Representative Blake Oshiro, who authored HB444, the Civil Unions Bill, defeated his very homophobic Democratic primary opponent, City Councilman Gary Okino, who ran on a right-wing “Christian” platform.

2. Kim Coco Iwamoto, who four years ago won a seat on the statewide Board of Education in Hawai‘i, after which the national press revealed that she was transgendered (the local press had never mentioned it before the election), easily won re-election to the Board of Education yesterday.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Kim_Coco_Iwamoto.jpg />

[JBK!]

Go Hawaii!!!!!

[Derrick from Philly]

Thanks for the info, Jim. Good news for Hawaii...maybe more enlightened than Massachusetts--and with a lot more sunshine!