Hawaii Gov. Abercrombie Blames Gay Marriage For Stunning Primary Loss

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie speaks at a Hawaii Senate committee hearing on gay marriage at the state Capitol in Honolulu on Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. Lawmakers on a Hawaii Senate committee are asking whether a gay marr... Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie speaks at a Hawaii Senate committee hearing on gay marriage at the state Capitol in Honolulu on Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. Lawmakers on a Hawaii Senate committee are asking whether a gay marriage proposal will give anything more to couples than the convenience of getting married without having to leave the state. (AP Photo/Oskar Garcia) MORE LESS
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Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) blamed his historic primary loss on his decision to call a special session to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

Speaking to reporters in his office, Abercrombie said Republicans, who are allowed to vote in the state’s open primary, crossed over to vote against him because of his maneuver to legalize gay marriage. He also claimed that religious leaders urged voters to choose his opponent.

“Republicans crossed over en masse to vote in the Democratic primary, and then the religious factor came in,” he said, as quoted by the AP. “Doctrinally I was outside the circle and paid for it.”

State Sen. David Ige bested Abercrombie by 35 percentage points in the primary election earlier this month. It was the first time a Democratic governor was unseated in a Hawaii primary.

One religious leader told the AP that while people were upset that Abercrombie didn’t wait until the regular legislative session to focus on gay marriage, he didn’t know whether other religious leaders boosted a vote against the governor.

“We couldn’t have figured out what the urgency was,” Walter Yoshimitsu, executive director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, said. “If he had dealt with it in the regular session, there would have been more time.”

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  1. This is something very few politicians ever do: The Right Thing.

  2. Avatar for hallam hallam says:

    Well it might be the case but pretty hard to see that one issue would mean a 35 point loss.

    Republicans are not too strong in Hawaii. To bring out their folk to cross over like that, does not seem very likely.

  3. Avatar for byteme byteme says:

    Yeah, I call “self-serving BS” as well.

  4. It’s amazing some the sh*t that terrible pols will come up with as a reason for their “shellacking.” Gay marriage did him in?? In Hawaii? How about Neil Abercrombie did him in.

  5. My understanding of Hawaii politics is that Abercrombie was not much of a politician. He was focused on doing whatever he thought was the right thing at any given moment, regardless of who it upset. This cost him a lot of allies, yes, but from other Democrats, because Abercrombie’s a bit of a centrist.

    I give him credit for taking the loss fairly gracefully, but hopefully he doesn’t say much more like this.

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