2010 Campaign for State Representative for the 28th District
In 2010, Chang ran for State Representative for the 28th District (Palama, Chinatown, Downtown, Lower Makiki, Sheridan) as a Republican. Chang was unopposed for the primary election and received 597 (77.5%) votes. [9] In the general election on November 2, 2010, Chang lost to incumbent Democrat Karl Rhoads by 3,203 (52.3%) to 2,636 (43%) votes. [10]
On September 23, 2010, Lynne Matusow and Anthony Chang filed a lawsuit against Scott Nago, In His Official Capacity as Chief Election Officer of the State of Hawaii Office of Elections, and Chang alleging that Chang was not a resident of the 28th Representative District at the time he filed papers to run and therefore should be disqualified from the November 2010 general election. [11] A similar challenge to the Office of Elections in August 2010 had failed. [12] On December 7, 2010, after the general election, the court granted the defendants' motion summary judgment and subsequently granted judgment in favor of Nago and Chang. [11]
Tenure as State Chair of the Hawaii Republican Party
On November 5, 2011, in an uncontested election, Chang was unanimously elected by the Republican party's state committee to the unpaid position of State Party Chair of the Hawaii Republican Party, to fill the remainder of the 2011–2013 term previously held by Jonah Kaauwai. [13]
The party's state committee is made up of 51 elected House District chairpersons, 4 county chairs, executive committee members and Republican leaders in the Hawaii State House and Senate. [14] At the time, Chang was 31 years old, making him the youngest person in the country to ever to assume the position of state party chair. [8]
In an email message to State Committee members prior to the election, Chang wrote "As chair, I will devote my efforts to growing our membership, raising funds for the party and our candidates, and recruiting strong candidates for 2012." [13] However, his 2011-2014 tenure as State Party Chair was marked with decreased monetary contributions to the Hawaii Republican Party, a decrease in Republican candidates to legislative seats, and the net loss of one Republican seat in the legislature. [7]
Under Chang, total contributions to the Hawaii Republican party decreased nearly in half from $1,116,426.98 in the previous two-year period (January 1, 2009, to December, 31, 2010) [15] to $575,537.63 during the January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012, period. [16] Contributions also fell again for the January 1, 2013, to December, 31, 2014, period to $518,386.10. [17]
Under Chang, Republicans failed to field candidates for more legislative races than the previous election. In 2010, under the previous chair, Republicans fielded candidates in 63 of the total 66 (95%) races for state Senate and House of Representative seats. [18] In 2012, under Chang, Republicans fielded candidates in 49 of the total 71 (64%) races for state Senate and House of Representative seats. [19] For the 2012 general election, two incumbent Republicans (George Fontaine and Corinne Ching) lost elections to Democrats and one Republican, his then-wife Beth Fukumoto, defeated an incumbent Democrat, for a net loss of one state House of Representatives seat. [20] The number of Republicans in the state Senate did not change due to the 2012 election. [20]
Federal races for the United States Senate and House of Representatives were unsuccessful. Republican candidate Linda Lingle received 160,994 votes (36.8%) in her loss to Democrat Mazie Hirono's 269,489 (61.6%) votes for United States senator [20] This result contrasted with the 2002 Hawaii Governor election where Lingle defeated Hirono by 197,009 (51.6%) to 179,647 (46.6%) votes. [21] Democrat Colleen Hanabusa also defeated former congressman Republican Charles Djou by 116,505 (53.5%) to 96,824 (44.4%) votes and Democrat Tulsi Gabbard defeated Republican Kawika Crowley 168,503 (76.8%) to 40,707 (18.6%) votes in the two races for United States Representative for Hawaii. [20]
Despite the results of the 2012 election, in December 2012, Chang was selected by Campaigns & Elections Magazine as one of the five Republicans for Hawaii's Top 10 Influencers of the 2012 Elections. [22]
Due to his position as chair, Chang served as a superdelegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention.
In March 2013, Chang traveled to Seoul, Korea for an appearance with former American President George W. Bush. [8]
On May 18, 2013, Chang was reelected to a second term to run 2013–2015. [23] On the same day, Chang stated that during his first term, the party moved from being $110,000 in debt to posting a modest surplus and that the party attracted 5,000 new members and 1,000 new donors. [23]
In March 2014, before the end of his 2013–2015 term, Chang stepped down as Chair citing his desire to concentrate on his military and business commitments. [7] The Honolulu Star Advertiser noted that during Chang's tenure, the fortunes of the Hawaii Republican Party had fallen, the two most electable Hawaii Republican candidates had lost elections, and that the Republican party had lost ground in the state legislature. [7]
