Vicky Cayetano turns to self-financing for her gubernatorial campaign

Honolulu businesswoman Vicky Cayetano has resorted to self-funding from her campaign to try to stay competitive in the Democratic primary race for governor, lending her own campaign 1.52 million so far of dollars.
Lieutenant Governor Josh Green, meanwhile, raised more than $1.47 million from January to the end of June and had spent $2.65 million on the race as of the end of last month, according to his latest filed report. with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission. Thursday.
US Representative Kai Kahele’s report shows he has raised $109,431 in the first half of this year and spent about $178,000 on the election so far.
Green is the apparent favorite in the race. A Civil Beat/Hawaii News Now poll late last month showed that if the election had been held then, Green would have won with 48% of the vote, while Kahele had 16% and Cayetano 15%. Another 22% of likely Democratic primary voters surveyed said they were still undecided ahead of the Aug. 13 ballot.
Green has held 20 political fundraisers in the first half of this year and has been by far his most successful fundraiser to date. He had over $629,000 in cash as of June 30, while Cayetano had just over $56,000 on hand. Kahele had approximately $40,450 in cash.
Green is a physician who played a leading role in the response to the coronavirus pandemic under Governor David Ige’s administration. He received dozens of donations from doctors in Hawaii and on the mainland, including former Hawaii health director Jack Lewin.
The maximum that a single donor is allowed to contribute to a gubernatorial candidate is $6,000. People who maxed out their donations to Green this year include former state attorney general Margery Bronster; longtime Honolulu lobbyist George Morris and his consultant Ross Yamasaki; and former First Hawaiian Bank executive Don Horner.
Hawaii Pacific Health President Raymond Vara, Hualalai Resort CEO Patrick Fitzgerald, Park Hotels and Resorts, Nathalie Moussallem of Dominos Pizza Hawaii, HMSA Administrator Jay Fujimoto, Director of Commercial Real Estate Stephen Metter and attorneys for Honolulu James Leavitt and Richard also donated the maximum. Turbine.
Green also got as many unions as possible, including the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the Hawaii State Teachers Association Political Action Committee, the PAC Local 142 ILWU, Operations Engineers Local #3, United Food and Commercial Workers Union (Local 480), and the Hawaii Association of Firefighters PAC.

Cayetano said he has spent more than $2.25 million so far on his first run for public office, but has only been able to raise $308,130 in private campaign donations in the first six months this year. year, according to a filing of his campaign Thursday.
Contributors who maxed out for Cayetano included veteran lobbyist Robert Toyofuku, former associate justice of the state Supreme Court Simeon Acoba Jr., former state chief financial officer Earl Anzai and former health systems administrator to Queen Arthur Ushijima.
Real estate agents May Tyrell and Jack Tyrell each gave the maximum contribution to Cayetano, as did real estate investor Michael Fergus, developer Everett Dowling, New York television host and producer Yue-Sai Kan, financial planner and Janell Israel, Honolulu physician Angela Pratt, and Linda Lee, senior consultant at Aon Hewitt.
Kahele pledged not to accept any donations over $100 and had planned to fund his campaign largely with public funds. However, he suffered a major campaign finance setback earlier this month when he failed to qualify for public funding for this election because he missed the deadline to file a promising affidavit. adhere to spending limits.
Kahele’s initial June 20 filing made it clear that he is backed by much of the progressive wing of Democrats in the Legislative Assembly, with donors that included Representatives Tina Wildberger, Chris Todd and Amy Perruso and the Senator Laura Acasio.

His small donor supporters also included household names from left wing state and local politics such as Kyle Kajihiro, Will Caron, Shannon Rudolph, Bart Dame and former state senator Gary Hooser. Former Democratic Party chairwoman Stephanie Ohigashi was also among her donors.
Kahele has also gained support from some well-known conservationists including Marti Townsend, Nelson Ho, Josh Stanbro and David Henkin.
Green served in both the State House and the state Senate representing the West Side of the Big Island before being elected lieutenant governor in 2018.
Kahele is a Hawaiian Airlines pilot who was elected in 2020 to Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district representing neighboring islands and rural Oahu. Previously, he was a state senator representing the Big Island. He is also a lieutenant colonel in the Hawaii Air National Guard and a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cayetano is president of United Laundry Services, the state’s largest laundry company. She became Hawaii’s first lady in 1997 when she married Ben Cayetano, who served as governor until 2002.
An analysis by Hawaii Campaign Expenses Commission staff showed that more than 27% of contributions over $100 Green’s campaign received during the election period, although late last year , were from out of state. About 9% of Cayetano’s donations over $100 for the same period came from out of state, and none of Kahele’s donations were.