California Journal of Politics and Policy

In introducing his adjustment request to the biennial budget for FY 2015, Hawai‘i’s bombastic governor, Neil Abercrombie, crowed over a $1.1 billion turnaround in the state’s budgetary fortunes during his first term.  However, revenue projections came in far below expectations, leading to a largely status-quo budget passed by the legislature in 2014.  The lack of funding for his policy initiatives, combined with a number of missteps by the governor that angered his core constituency, caused him to lose his party’s nomination for reelection to State Senator David Ige in the 2014 Democratic primary.