by David Chang, Chairman Hawaii Republican Party

The Hawaii Republican Party is looking forward with great optimism to the 2014 election year. With a divided Democrat party, an unpopular governor, and widespread frustration about the failure of our government to listen to ordinary citizens or to do anything meaningful to reduce our high cost of living, we believe the political environment is ripe for our goal of creating balanced and viable two-party governance in Hawaii. The values of our current Party platform reflect those of the majority of Hawaii's voters--Life, Liberty, Individual Responsibility, Fiscal Accountability and Equality of Opportunity (LLIFE), which provide the only hope for real, lasting, positive change for our state.

This past week, former Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona announced his intention to run for Governor, joining former state representative Cam Cavasso who is for running for U.S. Senate and Marissa Capelouto who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives from for CD2. We are excited about the numerous State House and State Senate Candidates that our voters will have the opportunity to meet and support. As the media has recently reported, some prominent Democrats have expressed interest in joining our party and running for office as a Republican, demonstrating that our party is on the upswing.

I believe that for our party to grow, any Democrat, Independent, or any other party that agrees with our values and wants to join our party is E Komo Mai, welcome! That is our party's slogan, to warmly welcome all people who believe in our LLIFE platform to our party.

As the minority party in a heavily blue state, it is always an uphill battle, especially when some seek to pursue their own narrow agenda. I believe that our party has to be united to win, not divided to see who is more right. If we don't win, we can't govern. If we can't govern, we can't make our state and country a better place to live for our future generations.

I highly encourage those who believe in our LLIFE Platform to join our party, attend our district caucuses, and those interested in running for office to join us! Without a healthy two-party system, there will never be any significant positive change and the status quo will remain.  We pledge to Hawaii's voters that we will work tirelessly to make Hawaii a better and more affordable place to live!

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