1. David Yutaka Ige is an American politician and engineer who served as the eighth governor of Hawaii from 2014 to 2022.
22 Facts About David Ige
1. 2.
David Ige was born and raised in Pearl City, Hawaii, the fifth of six sons of Tokio and Tsurue David Ige, who are of Okinawan descent.
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At the newly built Pearl City High School, David Ige excelled in many activities.
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David Ige was accepted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.
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David Ige met his wife, Dawn, at the University of Hawaii.
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David Ige was originally appointed to the Hawaii House of Representatives on December 2,1985, by Governor George Ariyoshi after Representative Arnold Morgado resigned to run for a seat on the Honolulu City Council.
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David Ige served in the Hawaii State Senate from 1995 to 2015.
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David Ige focused much of his career as a legislator on information and telecommunications policy, and co-authoried the Hawaii Telecommunications and Information Industries Act that established the state information network and created the Hawaii Information Network Corporation.
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David Ige was at the center of Hawaii's efforts to diversify its economy.
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David Ige was responsible for establishing seed capital and venture capital programs, software development initiatives, and technology transfer programs.
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David Ige was a member of the inaugural 1997 class of the Pacific Century Fellows.
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David Ige was reelected to the Hawaii State Senate in 2012, defeating Republican challenger and former US Naval Air crewman, Army Captain, and small business executive Mike Greco.
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Greco was the first challenger David Ige faced in a general election in over a decade.
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David Ige ran against incumbent Neil Abercrombie in the Democratic primary for the 2014 gubernatorial election, after Abercrombie upset the supporters of late US senator Daniel Inouye by ignoring his wish to be replaced by Colleen Hanabusa.
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David Ige's victory made him the first candidate to ever defeat an incumbent governor of Hawaii in a primary election.
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David Ige faced Republican Duke Aiona and Independent Mufi Hannemann in the general election.
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David Ige was sworn in as the eighth governor of Hawaii on December 1,2014, with Lieutenant Governor Shan Tsutsui, in the Hawaii State Capitol Rotunda.
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David Ige is the first person of Okinawan descent to be elected governor of a US state.
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In October 2015, David Ige declared a state of emergency due to the escalating scale of the homelessness problem; in 2015, Hawaii had the highest rate of homeless persons per capita in the United States.
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In June 2017, following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, David Ige signed two bills that respectively committed the state to meeting regardless its greenhouse gas emission targets under the Paris Agreement and established a carbon reduction and soil health task force.
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In June 2022 David Ige signed a transgender rights bill into law, expanding gender affirming care for Hawaii's residents.
22.
David Ige has allowed the Thirty Meter Telescope to be built on Mauna Kea.