BY AARON BLAKE – House Republicans aren’t the only ones stretching the map beyond the lower 48, as the Republican Governors Association is going up with ads in Hawaii.
Three months after Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) won a key special election in one of the blue state’s two House districts, the RGA is signaling that it thinks it can win that state’s governor’s race too.
The TV and radio ads are 100 percent positive and don’t mention Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona’s (R) Democratic opponents. They feature Aiona himself and talk about his efforts to control drugs in the state.
The state represents a tough hold for the RGA, with term-limited Gov. Linda Lingle (R) on the way out and Aiona trailing by double digits in most early polling. The Cook Political Report ranks it as the toughest seat for Republicans to hold.
But the pre-primary ad buy is a strong signal the RGA doesn’t intend to concede the state. The committee has only gone up with ads in eight other states so far, out of more than 20 competitive races.
See the full report: https://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/governors/as-hawaii-democrats-battle-rga.html#more