Last week, the Hawaiʻi Republican Party held its state convention and elected Art Hannemann as its new state chairman, ousting incumbent Tamara McKay from the leadership position.

I’m sure he’ll do his very best as the new head of the party, but there are bigger structural issues for Republicans beyond individual leaders that pose questions about their future. We need to look at what Republicanism in Hawaiʻi is at this moment.

And that’s the elephant in the room that we need to talk about. Hawaiʻi cannot afford to ignore Republicans any further, especially GOP voters. Republicans hold not only the White House but a conservative majority in both houses of Congress and are incrementally picking up seats locally. Hawaiʻi’s former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who authored the 2024 book, “For Love of Country: Leave The Democrat Party Behind,” is also now the director of national intelligence.

This power dynamic has implications for the mantle of responsibility worn by elected Hawaiʻi Republicans in our Legislature and city councils, because while they may be the minority here, they are now representatiave of the overarching institutional power of our country. Institutions make rules, exercise administrative power, establish precedents, and most serious of all, determine the trajectory of a country. (As a political scientist, I give you permission to refer to all Republicans as “The Deep State” now.) 

To whom much is given, much shall be required, and one can no longer simply take the role of being someone whose legislative repertoire consists solely of press releases, “no” votes, and argumentative speeches during floor votes. Members of the House and Senate minority may mean well, but you guys really sucked during the last legislative session. As local proxies of the national regime, you are expected to be relevant.

You Break It, You Own It

Republicans can no longer credibly tell you that your problems are the result of Hawaii Democrats or former President Joe Biden. They may have been able to say that on the morning of Jan. 20, but the Pottery Barn rule is in full effect from now at least until the midterms: You break it, you own it.

Local Republicans certainly aren’t acting like the national majority right now. Many of them project an inferiority complex for which protests must be waged and online arguments had. When you’re the institution, you govern. That means you stop complaining and start coordinating. It means you can’t just say something doesn’t work, you now are responsible for making things work.

Republicans in Hawaii have become a weird alliance where the most engaged (or perhaps, most vocal and visible) are small business owners/affluent Realtors; mainland transplants with animus toward the local way of doing things; Christians who believe God calls us to impose Old Testament-style laws on U.S. citizens; and people that I can only describe as a modern form of new age counterculture.

This is problematic, because say for a moment in a bizarre twist of fate that you should pick up a number of legislative seats and even win the governor’s seat in the next election. How are you going to run the state and appoint people to positions of trust and confidence with that kind of bench? 

Where do you find an attorney general when many conservatives, delighted with the president’s targeting of universities like Harvard or bullying of Tim Cook over iPhones made in India, have got to be constantly reminded that the U.S. Constitution in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 says “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed”? 

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “raid” last month of Maui teachers in particular should upset both local Democrats and Republicans. You can’t honestly tell me that you’re “for the Republic” when federal power is being projected that way into our state. What happened to “states’ rights” and “nullification is the rightful remedy for federal abuse” proponents?

Oh, I get it … “federal abuse” actually means being represented by the opposition party, not the federal government stepping on local toes. But remember when you guys believed so strongly in the rule of enlightened law that free copies of the Constitution were passed out at GOP events? (I still have mine.) 

Where do you get a director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs or a director of Budget and Finance, when your guys are going around saying “Trust Trump” and thinking oppressive tariffs are necessary pain to heal a patient?

Ready For Serious Leadership?

In the Legislature, can Republicans develop realistic budgets, handle the hard work of actual public administration and do more than just hold media events?

Never mind giving speeches. Can you be a real lawmaker and do the weighty behind-the-scenes, no credit given, all accountability demanded work? You guys have got to be kidding me if your dream plan for Hawaiʻi is to come to power, then template stuff you saw on Fox News or the mainland. That’s not a “Contract with Hawaiʻi,” that’s a legislative suicide pact.

And no, saying, “I’m here to advance the president’s agenda” is not governance, it’s deference.

Don’t take this as an insult, but rather as serious questions for people who should be prepared to be serious leaders. There’s a pattern where Republicans get thrown out of office, the Democrats take over, get too arrogant, get replaced by Republicans who seize control of the country, and then wreck everything because of their goofy coalitions and lack of governing acumen. 

In our two-party system, we can’t have one party that is great at insulting but terrible at uplifting.

One of the greatest Republicans to ever serve in both military and civilian service, Colin Powell, famously observed, “Intelligence is essential, and the more you can get, the better. But at the end of the day, it’s your instinct as a senior person. The reason we’re wearing stars, or have these elevated positions, is we have demonstrated over the years our ability to have an instinct that works.”

Now, I know my liberal and progressive readers are already laughing at this point, because many of them will say that Republicans will never again be a majority in Hawaii. Perhaps. But bear with me. Republicans and Democrats ultimately have to work together, so having a reservoir of people who understand basic things like how a government works, what the rule of law consists of, basic scientific tenets, even state ethics is essential to our ongoing society.

I love you guys, I really do. But this is not the Republican Party we grew up with. The Republicans of the past had people who spent time in the classroom to get things right, respected academics, demanded evidence-based decision making, mocked publicity stunt governance and preferred history over headlines.

Remember what Ronald Reagan said in his 1980 acceptance speech: “The first task of national leadership is to set honest and realistic priorities in our policies and our budget.” Leaving office in 1989, he said something even more important: “An informed patriotism is what we want.”

No amount of knocking on doors, sign waving, weird YouTube pre-loading campaign ads, and iconoclastic behavior is a replacement for having people who are serious and skilled and committed to being the best. In our two-party system, we can’t have one party that is great at insulting but terrible at uplifting.