After a tough primary fight, Sylvia Luke wins Democratic race for lieutenant governor

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Longtime state lawmaker Sylvia Luke won a tough Democratic primary fight for lieutenant governor on Saturday night, overcoming a multi-million PAC attack campaign against her.

“I’m just grateful to my supporters,” Luke said, after the results came in.

“Every single one of these folks gave their heart and soul to this campaign.”

Ikaika Anderson was in second place, but declined to concede until later in the evening. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us,” adding he would accept the results of the vote. “Respectfully, we’re going to wait.

Keith Amemiya and Sherry Menor-McNamara rounded out the top four.

A Civil Beat/HNN poll conducted earlier in the summer showed nearly half of Democratic voters weren’t sure who they planned to support in the race for lieutenant governor.

Experts say union’s big spending could influence LG’s race

And then in late July, the race started to attract a flurry of political spending.

One big spender: Hawaii Carpenters Union political action committee Be Change Now spent millions to fund attack ads against Luke and supporting Anderson.

HNN Political Analyst Colin Moore said the spending spelled trouble for Luke.

“This is largely a name recognition race,” said HNN political analyst Colin Moore.

“Because there are no big policy differences. And it’s also about who you trust. What negative advertising can do, whether it’s fair or not, is just put that sense of doubt in the minds of voters.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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