The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly board of directors and leadership team issued a statement Tuesday reaffirming its support for Sylvia Luke as lieutenant governor in the upcoming election.
The statement was issued today to all UHPA members and comes on the same day that Kauaʻi Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami officially announced his run for lieutenant governor.
UHPA, the union which represents faculty from all 10 University of Hawai‘i campuses across the state, has been an affiliate since 2024 of the American Federation of Teachers, which currently represents about 400,000 faculty and other academic employees in public and private colleges across all 50 states.
AFT, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, represents a total of 1.8 million members in more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide.
At the recommendation of UHPA’s Legislative Action Committee, which is composed of UH faculty members, the UHPA board unanimously voted to endorse Sylvia Luke in its board meeting held in June 2025.
Based on Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke’s recent public disclosures on her campaign contributions, UHPA reaffirmed their endorsement, noting there is nothing to warrant rescinding this endorsement.
In Luke’s self-imposed audit of her campaign spending reports between in 2021 through July 2022, it revealed discrepancies and about $7,800 in unreported campaign donations.
The statement was issued to UHPA members earlier this afternoon as a news flash here.
