List of governors of Hawaii

This is a list of people who were the Governor of Hawaii.

Governors

The Republic of Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898. It became the Hawaii Territory in 1900. Hawaii became a state in 1959. The Republic had only one president, Sanford B. Dole. He was also the first territorial governor. Between 1893 and 1894, Hawaii was under the Provisional Government of Hawaii. It had no formal leader. Before 1893, Hawaii was a monarchy. Queen Lili'uokalani was the last Queen of Hawaii.

Governors of Hawaii Territory

Hawaii Territory was organized on June 14, 1900. It was a territory for 59 years. Twelve people served as territorial governor. They were chosen by the President of the United States.

#	Governor	Took office	Left office	Appointed by	Notes
1	Sanford B. Dole	June 14, 1900	November 23, 1903	William McKinley	[a]
2	George R. Carter	November 23, 1903[2]	August 15, 1907	Theodore Roosevelt	[b]
3	Walter F. Frear	August 15, 1907[4]	November 30, 1913	Theodore Roosevelt
4	Lucius E. Pinkham	November 30, 1913[5]	June 22, 1918	Woodrow Wilson
5	Charles J. McCarthy	June 22, 1918[6]	July 5, 1921	Woodrow Wilson
6	Wallace R. Farrington	July 5, 1921[7]	July 6, 1929	Warren G. Harding
7	Lawrence M. Judd	July 6, 1929[8]	March 2, 1934	Herbert Hoover
8	Joseph Poindexter	March 2, 1934[9]	August 24, 1942	Franklin D. Roosevelt	[c]
9	Ingram Stainback	August 24, 1942[11]	May 8, 1951	Franklin D. Roosevelt	[d]
10	Oren E. Long	May 8, 1951[14]	February 28, 1953	Harry S. Truman
11	Samuel Wilder King	February 28, 1953[15]	July 26, 1957	Dwight D. Eisenhower	[e]
12	William F. Quinn	August 29, 1957[17]	August 21, 1959	Dwight D. Eisenhower

Governors of the State of Hawaii

Hawaii became a state on August 21, 1959. The state was made up of Hawaii Territory without Palmyra Atoll. Since then, there have been seven governors.

The governor is elected to a four-year term. It begins on the first Monday in the December after the election. The lieutenant governor is elected for the same term. Since 1964, they have been elected on the same ticket.^[18][19] The 1978 constitutional convention set a term limit of two consecutive terms for both offices.^[18] If the office of governor is vacant, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. If the governor is out of the state or unable to do their duties, the lieutenant governor acts as governor.^[20]

  Democratic (7)   Republican (2)

Governors of the State of Hawaii^[f]

No.	Governor			Term of office	Party	Election	Lt. Governor[g]
1			William F. Quinn     July 13, 1919 – August 28, 2006    (aged 87)	August 21, 1959 – December 3, 1962 (lost election)	Republican	1959		James Kealoha
2			John A. Burns     March 30, 1909 – April 5, 1975    (aged 66)	December 3, 1962 – December 2, 1974 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1962		William S. Richardson
						1966		Thomas Gill
						1970		George Ariyoshi
3			George Ariyoshi     (1926-03-12) March 12, 1926 (age 98)	December 2, 1974 – December 1, 1986 (term limited)	Democratic	1974		Nelson Doi
						1978		Jean King
						1982		John D. Waiheʻe III
4			John D. Waiheʻe III     (1946-05-19) May 19, 1946 (age 78)	December 1, 1986 – December 5, 1994 (term limited)	Democratic	1986		Ben Cayetano
						1990
5			Ben Cayetano     (1939-11-14) November 14, 1939 (age 85)	December 5, 1994 – December 2, 2002 (term limited)	Democratic	1994		Mazie Hirono
						1998
6			Linda Lingle     (1953-06-04) June 4, 1953 (age 71)	December 2, 2002 – December 6, 2010 (term limited)	Republican	2002		Duke Aiona
						2006
7			Neil Abercrombie     (1938-06-26) June 26, 1938 (age 86)	December 6, 2010 – December 1, 2014 (lost renomination)[h]	Democratic	2010		Brian Schatz (resigned December 26, 2012)
							Vacant
								Shan Tsutsui (took office December 27, 2012) (resigned January 31, 2018)
8			David Ige     (1957-01-15) January 15, 1957 (age 67)	December 1, 2014 – December 5, 2022	Democratic	2014
							Vacant
								Doug Chin (took office February 2, 2018)
						2018		Josh Green
9			Josh Green     (1970-02-11) February 11, 1970 (age 54)	December 5, 2022 [i]	Democratic	2022		Sylvia Luke

Notes

1. Resigned to take a seat on the United States District Court for Hawaii Territory.^[1]
2. Resigned^[3]
3. Poindexter stayed in office for several months after his term ended until Stainback was confirmed.^[10]
4. Stainback had little power until October 24, 1944, because martial law was declared on December 7, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This gave executive power to the military.^[12] During the military rule, the territory was governed by Lieutenant Generals Walter Short, Delos Emmons, and Robert C. Richardson, Jr..^[13]
5. Resigned immediately when denied a second term by President Eisenhower.^[16]
6. Data is sourced from the National Governors Association, unless supplemental references are required.
7. All lieutenant governors have represented the same party as their governor.
8. Abercrombie lost the Democratic nomination to David Ige.^[21]
9. Green's first term will expire December 7, 2026.

References

1. "Confirmed by the Senate". The New York Times. November 24, 1903. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
2. "Carter Takes the Oath". The Washington Post. November 24, 1903. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
3. "Gov. Carter will Quit". The New York Times. June 9, 1907. Retrieved February 2, 2008.
4. "New Governor of Hawaii". The Washington Post. August 16, 1907. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
5. "Approved as Hawaii Governor". The New York Times. November 30, 1913. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
6. All about Hawaii. Star-Bulletin Printing Co. 1960. p. 148. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
7. All about Hawaii. Star-Bulletin Printing Co. 1960. p. 157. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
8. "Judd is Inaugurated". The New York Times. July 6, 1929. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
9. "Poindexter Takes Office As Governor of Hawaii". The Christian Science Monitor. March 2, 1934. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
10. Dyke, C.Y. (1960). Biographical Sketches of Hawaii's Rulers. First National Bank of Hawaii. p. 35. Retrieved February 23, 2008.
11. Court Of Claims, United States; Company, West Publishing (1988). "Federal Supplement". 66. West Pub. Co.: 985. Retrieved February 22, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
12. Israel, Fred L. (August 1967). "Military Justice in Hawaii 1941–1944". Pacific Historical Review. 36 (3): 243–267. doi:10.2307/3637150. JSTOR 3637150. Retrieved February 23, 2008.
13. Rankin, Robert S. (May 1944). "Martial Law and the Writ of Habeas Corpus in Hawaii". The Journal of Politics. 6 (2). The Journal of Politics, Vol. 6, No. 2: 213–229. doi:10.2307/2125272. JSTOR 2125272. S2CID 153947841. Retrieved February 23, 2008.
14. "Hawaii Swears in Long as Governor". The New York Times. May 9, 1951. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
15. "Hawaii Inaugurates King As Its Eleventh Governor". The New York Times. March 1, 1953. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
16. "Hawaii Governor, Denied 2nd Term, Resigns Suddenly". Los Angeles Times. July 26, 1957. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
17. "Gov. Quinn Takes Office in Hawaii". The New York Times. August 30, 1957. Retrieved February 23, 2008.
18. HI Const. art. V, § 1
19. Tuttle, Jr., Daniel W. (June 1967). "The 1966 Election in Hawaii". The Western Political Quarterly. 20 (2, part 2). The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 2: 563–567. doi:10.2307/446083. JSTOR 446083.
20. HI Const. art. V, § 4
21. "Hawaiian Governor Loses Primary by Wide Margin; Senate Race Is Undecided". The New York Times. August 11, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2019.