50 Facts About Campbell Cavasso

Campbell Cavasso graduated from University of Colorado Boulder after serving in ROTC, and spent five years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of captain.

Campbell Cavasso entered politics in the 1980s, first winning election to the state House of Representatives from District 20 in 1984.

Campbell Cavasso made a bid for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, but he placed third in the primary with just under 14 percent of the vote.

Campbell Cavasso has run for the United States Senate three times and the United States House of Representatives once.

Campbell Cavasso again challenged Inouye in 2010, and received approximately 22 percent.

Campbell Cavasso again won the Republican nomination, and faced appointed Senator and former lieutenant governor Brian Schatz.

Campbell Cavasso received almost 28 percent of the vote, improving on both his vote total and vote percentage from his two previous runs, but still lost to Schatz by over 40 points.

Campbell Cavasso was the Republican nominee for Hawaii's 1st congressional district in 2018, winning by over 60 points in the August primary.

Campbell Cavasso is regarded as a social and fiscal conservative, known for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Campbell Cavasso supports repealing regulations which he regards as burdensome to business, and made the high cost of living in Hawaii a key issue in multiple campaigns.

Campbell Cavasso was born on October 14,1950, in San Francisco, California, the eldest of three sons of Leon Campbell Cavasso Jr.

Campbell Cavasso is a lay minister in his Christian church and has served as a Bible Study group teacher.

Campbell Cavasso is a financial advisor with the Mass Mutual Financial Group and the founder and co-owner of Hydroseed Hawaii, LLC, a small business contracting company specializing in hydromulching.

In 1984, Campbell Cavasso was first elected to the Hawaii State House of Representatives, representing District 20, which included Waimanalo in Honolulu County.

Campbell Cavasso was re-elected to the seat in 1986 and 1988.

Fivethirtyeight retrospectively remarked that it was through his time in the state legislature that Campbell Cavasso established his reputation as "a respectable politician" until his "legacy was overshadowed as he gained a reputation as a perennial loser".

Campbell Cavasso finished third with 10,085 votes, behind television news anchor Dalton Tanonaka, who took 27,142 votes, and former Circuit Court judge Duke Aiona, who won the primary with 35,422 votes.

In 2004, Campbell Cavasso ran for the Republican nomination to challenge eight-term Democratic senator Daniel Inouye.

Campbell Cavasso stated that he decided to run in July 2004, following Inouye's vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would ban gay marriage at the federal level.

Campbell Cavasso prevailed in the Republican primary, winning 21,645 votes for 49.2 percent of all ballots cast, against three competitors.

Campbell Cavasso argued that Inouye had made Hawaii too dependent on federal funding, and promised that if elected, he would seek to position the state as "a technology center and a bridge between Asia and the mainland".

Campbell Cavasso voiced support for Bush's tax cuts and invasion of Iraq, both of which Inouye opposed, and the United States PATRIOT Act, which Cavasso indicated in a questionnaire did not "go too far" in his view.

Exit polling by CNN found that Campbell Cavasso won a majority among Republicans and self-identified conservatives, as well as losing by only one point among those who strongly approved of Bush's job performance, while significantly trailing Inouye among most other demographics.

Campbell Cavasso again ran for the US Senate again in 2010, winning the Republican primary with 23,033 votes against two opponents.

Campbell Cavasso was regarded as the underdog in the general election, including by the candidate himself; in one television spot to promote his campaign, he jokingly referred to himself as "crazy" for again taking on Inouye, who had served eight terms in the Senate and continued to be widely popular in the state.

Campbell Cavasso had a severe fundraising deficit compared to Inouye, having raised $220,000 to Inouye's $5.2 million.

Campbell Cavasso campaigned on a platform of fiscal restraint and limited government, criticizing Inouye for his support of the 2008 bailouts and of congressional earmarks and commenting that the nation's financial state was as "crazy" as his own underdog campaign.

Campbell Cavasso ultimately received 79,939 votes, or 21.6 percent of all ballots cast; Inouye received over 277,000 votes, winning by over 53 percentage points.

Campbell Cavasso later reported that Inouye had phoned him after the election to tell him that he had "enjoyed" Campbell Cavasso's campaign.

However, Campbell Cavasso argued that he was in a better position to win the election than in his two prior campaigns, because Schatz had been appointed by an unpopular governor and because Schatz's nomination had gone against Inouye's dying wish.

Campbell Cavasso emphasized his socially conservative positions on issues such as gay marriage, marijuana legalization, and abortion.

Campbell Cavasso created a series of short YouTube videos to increase name recognition and share his message with voters.

Campbell Cavasso expressed hope that voters would continue to consider the "family and conservative values I have spoken for in this election".

Campbell Cavasso announced his candidacy for the seat, and ran in the Republican primary against businessman and anti-abortion activist Raymond Vinole.

Campbell Cavasso's campaign focused on technology-based campaign methods, including social media; Campbell Cavasso remarked that the campaign was the most relaxing and fun he'd worked on.

Campbell Cavasso told KHON that his objective was to form a winning coalition of Republicans, independents, and conservative Democrats.

Campbell Cavasso voiced skepticism of man-made climate change and expressed worry that further environmental regulations could increase gasoline prices and hurt Hawaii.

Campbell Cavasso stated that, if elected, he would support Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio for Speaker of the House.

Campbell Cavasso noted that Republicans currently held the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, and argued that it would benefit Hawaii to have a member of Congress belonging to the majority party.

Campbell Cavasso reiterated his opposition to the legalization of marijuana, arguing that the opioid epidemic demonstrated that legalization would be counterproductive.

Campbell Cavasso criticized the Affordable Care Act as leading to higher health care costs, and said he would not support Native Hawaiian sovereignty, arguing that they would not be well served by it and quoting a Hawaiian king as saying "we are all of one blood".

On Election Day, Campbell Cavasso received 42,498 votes, just over 23 percent of all ballots cast, coming in second place behind Case.

Campbell Cavasso has been a consistent critic of the legalization of same-sex marriage, stating that Inouye's opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment was what motivated him to challenge the Senator in 2004.

Campbell Cavasso was supportive of Hawaii's Traditional Marriage Amendment, which granted the state legislature the power to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples; the amendment passed in 1998 with 69 percent of voters in favor.

At a 2018 candidate forum, Campbell Cavasso expressed his opposition to marijuana legalization, responding that "it's taking a chance" and opining that marijuana use can lead to other drugs.

Campbell Cavasso supports repealing or revising the Jones Act, which regulates international commerce and stipulates that 75 percent of all crew members on shipping vessels must be American, arguing that it contributes to a higher cost of living in the state.

Campbell Cavasso has suggested that, if the law remains in place, Hawaii should receive an exemption.

Campbell Cavasso has been critical of redistributive economic programs, calling them "stealing" and arguing that they disincentivize hard work.

Campbell Cavasso is an opponent of the Affordable Care Act; he suggests that it has impaired competition and that doctors should be permitted to design a health care system.

Campbell Cavasso likened climate change activism to the reaction to the 1968 book The Population Bomb, which warned that widespread starvation would soon result from an overpopulated earth.