Linda Lingle

Linda Lingle (née Cutter; June 4, 1953) is an American politician, who was the sixth governor of Hawaii from 2002 to 2010.

Lingle was born Linda Cutter to a Jewish family in St. Louis, Missouri in 1953, the daughter of Mildred and Richard Cutter.

Lingle moved with her parents to Southern California when she was 12.

She was the first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since 1959, and was the state's first female and first Jewish governor.

She graduated from Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa, California (at that time, part of Van Nuys), then received her bachelor's degree in journalism cum laude from California State University, Northridge, in 1975.

Soon after that, she followed her father to Hawaii, working first in Honolulu as a public information officer for the Teamsters and Hotel Workers Union.

Later, she moved to Molokai, where she started the Molokai Free Press, a community newspaper.

In 1980, Lingle was elected to the Maui County Council, where she served five two-year terms.

Lingle served three of those terms representing Molokai and two terms as an at-large member.

Upon the 1990 retirement of Hannibal Tavares as mayor of Maui County, Lingle decided to challenge former Maui mayor and Hawai'i State Speaker of the House of Representatives Elmer Cravalho for the seat.

Despite polls showing Lingle trailing far behind her Democratic opponent, Lingle proved victorious.

The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspapers declared the election one of the biggest upsets in Hawai'i political history.

She became the youngest person elected to the office of Maui County Mayor, at the age of 37, as well as the first woman.

Prior to serving as governor, Lingle served as mayor of Maui County from 1991 to 1999 and as chair of the Hawaii Republican Party from 1999 to 2002.

She was sworn into office as Mayor of Maui on January 2, 1991.

In 1994, Lingle easily won re-election over her Democratic opponent, Maui County councilman Goro Hokama.

Under Lingle's leadership, Maui County implemented performance-based budgeting.

Its successful passage and execution earned for Lingle the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association for four years.

Mayor Lingle was also credited for attracting tourism and job growth to Maui County during a period when the state tourism industry was struggling.

Lingle would once again attempt an upset victory, this time in pursuit of the governor's office in 1998.

Barred from seeking a third term as mayor of Maui, Lingle was nominated by the Hawaii Republican Party to run against incumbent governor Benjamin J. Cayetano.

Republican party members believed that Lingle was the best shot at the office and that 1998 would probably be the only chance the party would have of ever winning.

Lingle capitalized on the anger of Hawaii residents over the stagnant economy and their dissatisfaction with the strategies employed by the Democrats in attempt to solve the problem.

Cayetano trailed in the media polls heading into the November election but on the evening of the election, Cayetano and Lingle were separated by a single percentage point forcing a recount.

Lingle was defeated in the closest election in Hawaii history.

The state Democratic Party was accused of launching a whisper campaign alleging that Lingle was a lesbian, and that she would abolish Christmas as a state holiday.

Previously, Governor Cayetano had given state workers all of Christmas Eve day off, and other local government leaders followed suit – except then-Maui County Mayor Lingle, who said it would be too costly.

After being defeated, Lingle was elected chair of the Hawaii Republican Party.

She served from 1999 to 2002.

During her tenure as party chair, Lingle overhauled party policies and gave the party a lift she believed was needed to make the party competitive in a historically Democratic Party-dominated state.

Internal reforms proved successful and Lingle succeeded in electing more Republicans to seats in both houses of the Hawaii State Legislature.

At the peak of Republican success, the party held 19 of the 51 seats in the state House of Representatives.

Party membership grew as younger people joined.

Republicans gained a more youthful appearance and had reinvented itself informally as the new GOP Hawaii.

Lingle is a member of The Wish List, America's largest fundraising and campaign political action committee for Pro-choice Republican Women and The Republican Majority for Choice.

During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, Lingle served as chair of the convention during the absence of permanent chair Dennis Hastert from the convention floor.

In 2012, she was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate, vying unsuccessfully for an open seat vacated by retiring U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka.

In January 2015, Lingle was appointed as a senior adviser to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, and left the position in July 2016.

She also served on the Governors' Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Lingle moved back to Hawaii in the second quarter of 2017 and became a member of Hawaii Pacific University's board of trustees in June 2017.

Lingle is the last Republican and only woman to have served as Governor of Hawaii.