Linda Lingle

Barred from seeking a third term, Cayetano announced his retirement from political service in 2002. Having become even more popular among Hawaii residents, Lingle was nominated as the Republican candidate for the office of Governor of Hawaii. Her campaign was substantially aided when the popular favorite, Democratic Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu Jeremy Harris withdrew after allegations of campaign finance irregularities. Hawaii Democrats then nominated incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mazie Hirono; it was one of the few gubernatorial races in which both major candidates were women.

Lingle ran on her "Agenda for New Beginnings," a campaign platform developed to promote Republican leadership and highlight their criticisms of the previous 40 years of Democratic administration of the state. It also cited differences between Lingle's message and the previous, more conservative platforms which Hawaii Republicans had advocated.

Focusing less on her mayoral accomplishments and more on the message of reform, Lingle won the election alongside former state judge Duke Aiona, who became Lingle's lieutenant governor.

Lingle was the first state Governor-elect not to be inaugurated at the Coronation Pavilion on the grounds of Iolani Palace. She was inaugurated in the rotunda of the Hawaii State Capitol. She took the oath of office upon a Tanakh.

Lingle signed into law the Three Strikes Law and Sex Offender Registry Website Law.[15] She vetoed a bill that would have required all hospitals in Hawaii to provide emergency contraception to rape victims,[16] concerned that Catholic hospitals would challenge it.[17] In May 2004 Lingle led a delegation to Israel, paid for by the Israeli Government.[18][19] She enjoyed high approval ratings, usually around 70 percent.[20]

Lingle spent much of 2004 campaigning for Republican candidates, both in the Presidential election and the Hawaii state legislature. She supported President George W. Bush's Iraq policies,[21] and campaigned for Bush in the contiguous United States. When some polling late in the election showed Bush tied or narrowly leading Democrat John Kerry, Lingle attempted to help Republicans carry her state for the first time since 1984. Vice President Dick Cheney also campaigned in the state. The state legislature had a Democratic supermajority and she wanted to have enough members to block them from overriding her vetoes. Ultimately, not only did Kerry win the state, but Republicans lost five seats in the state legislature, reducing their presence to near single-digits and causing the Democrats to consider Lingle more vulnerable than they initially expected. The 2004 presidential election in Hawaii was the closest Republicans have come to reclaiming the state since 1984, when Ronald Reagan last won the state.

In education, she attempted to divide the State Board of Education into seven local school boards, but failed. One of the more controversial issues Lingle has championed is the practice of sending prisoners to the mainland, as opposed to building a new prison in Hawaii.[22]

Linda Lingle in December 2006

In 2006, Lingle announced her candidacy for re-election as Governor of Hawaiʻi. In the Democratic Party, many people were speculated to run, but many of them declined, including State Senator Colleen Hanabusa, then Senate President Bobby Bunda, former Congressman Ed Case (who ran for U.S. Senate), U.S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie, and Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim. Despite the difficulty of finding an opponent for Lingle, former State Senator Randy Iwase decided to run for Governor. In the primary election he easily defeated Waianae Harbormaster William Aila Jr., and ended up with former Big Island State Senator Malama Solomon as his running mate. Over the course of the campaign, Iwase was considered an underdog who had only spent $340,000, compared to Lingle's $6 million; in his ads, he attacked Lingle over her relationship with President Bush. Governor Lingle won by the largest margin in state history, 63 percent to 35 percent.

In August 2007, the Hawaii Supreme Court invalidated a Lingle appointee's exemption of the Hawaii Superferry from having to undertake an environmental assessment before operating in Hawaii waters. The Superferry was an $80 million high-speed ferry. Despite the Court's ruling, the ferry sailed to Kauai without an environmental assessment. It was met by protesters on surfboards who turned the ferry back to Oahu. Lingle summoned a massive police and Coast Guard response. She told Kauai protesters that they would be charged under Hawaii's anti-terrorism laws if they continued to interfere with the Superferry's operation.[23] Lingle sought a legislative exemption from environmental law on behalf of the Superferry (known as Act Two). Several Maui groups, including the Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow and the Kahului Harbor Coalition challenged the law as unconstitutional, citing a violation of separation of powers, and favoritism towards a single company. The ferry suspended all Hawaii service in March 2009, days after the Hawaii Supreme Court struck down Act Two as unconstitutional.[23][24]

2008 Republican Convention

As she had four years before, Lingle campaigned for the Republican ticket, describing herself as "of the same breed as McCain and Palin."[25] She received national exposure when she delivered a primetime address on the third night of the 2008 Republican National Convention praising John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running-mate.[26] Lingle and Palin, both Republican women governors of non-contiguous states, are friends who grew acquainted through the Republican Governors Association.[26] Lingle's speech filled the role of the traditional address formally nominating the vice-presidential candidate, though Palin was not officially nominated until the next night.

Health care policies targeting legal immigrants and Compact of Free Association residents

In July 2009, the Lingle Administration ended the Hawaiʻi Immigrant Health Initiative, a state program providing medical coverage for legal immigrants present in the United States for fewer than five years. This move included the elimination of all residents present in Hawaiʻi under the Compact of Free Association from QUEST, the state's Medicaid coverage plan that assists the low income population in Hawaiʻi with their health care needs. Noting that such a policy likely constituted unlawful discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause, federal district court judge John Michael Seabright issued a preliminary injunction against the implementation of the substituted health care plan.[27] Subsequent Governor Neil Abercrombie indicated that he may continue the State's appeal of the injunction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[28]

School furlough sit-in

On April 13, 2010, two student protesters who were occupying her office were arrested and criminal trespassing citations were issued to eight others.[29][30] The demonstrators were part of a sit-in to protest a school furlough policy implemented due to budget shortages.[31] The following day, April 14, two more protesters were arrested and citations were issued to five other protesters.[30]

Civil union veto

Lingle on July 6, 2010 vetoed Hawaii House Bill 444, which would have allowed for civil unions for couples in Hawaii, arguing the issue should be decided by referendum.[32] The bill had passed the State House with three votes less than the two-thirds vote threshold necessary to override the veto, although the bill met that threshold in the State Senate.[33]