GREEN, Josh
Party: Democratic · Current officeholder
Platform: Incumbent Democratic governor running for re-election on housing emergency, climate, and visitor green-fee.
- 9th Governor of Hawaiʻi, in office since December 5, 2022; running for re-election in 2026. [Office of the Governor]
- Has made housing his signature issue — issued emergency housing proclamations to cut permitting red tape and has framed Hawaiʻi's roughly 50,000-unit shortage as an affordability and equity crisis. [HALE — Hawaiʻi Governor's Housing Team]
- Architect of statewide visitor 'green-fee' proposals to fund climate resilience and conservation. [2026 State of the State address]
- Healthcare-focused budget priorities (Green is an emergency-room physician by training). [Campaign website (joshgreenforhawaii.com)]
- Endorsed for re-election by the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) for Governor in its 2026 endorsement list. [HGEA 2026 endorsements]
- Recommended for re-election by the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association (HSTA) in its 2026 primary election recommendations, citing his record on the middle-class tax cut, affordable-housing production, and kauhale homelessness villages. [HSTA 2026 recommendations]
- In an October 29, 2025 letter to U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, proposed a nine-part, roughly $10 billion 'Advancing Defense and Community Goals for Hawaiʻi' framework as the basis for renewing expiring Army training-land leases — including returning Mākua Valley and the Keʻāmuku and Fort DeRussy parcels to the State, funding cesspool/groundwater cleanup, building 6,500 housing units, and a $500 million one-time federal settlement fund for land restoration if the Army pursues condemnation instead of a negotiated lease. [Letter to Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll (10/29/2025)]
Editorial summary: Josh Green is the incumbent Democrat seeking a second term. His State of the State addresses and signed legislation, documented on the Office of the Governor website and Hawaiʻi Public Radio, show identification with using executive authority to accelerate housing through the HALE framework, a visitor-funded climate-resilience strategy, and strong healthcare priorities. He has also been endorsed for re-election by HGEA and HSTA, and has pushed a $10 billion land-return and community-investment framework in negotiations over expiring Army training-land leases.
Key issues: Housing emergency, Visitor green fee, Climate resilience, Healthcare, Labor & union endorsements, Military land leases
Website: https://joshgreenforhawaii.com