Do we like them?

Do we like Josh Green?

Our score: 6 out of 10. Good signs on LGBTQ+ inclusion and a doctor's background, but the record we could read is thin and a few oversight questions are open.

Josh Green is a doctor first and a politician second. He went to Swarthmore, trained as a physician and worked in rural emergency rooms on the Big Island before moving through the state legislature and the lieutenant governor's job to the top office in December 2022.

On the harm check, the clearest thing we found is that in October 2024 his office announced a new Hawaii State LGBTQ+ Commission, an advisory body meant to improve the state's engagement with LGBTQ+ residents. We found no anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ campaigning from him. Our searches also turned up no anti-vax, climate-denial or migrant-bashing material, though that is an absence in a short search, not a clean bill of health.

A petition on Change.org in 2025 asked him to issue an executive order protecting gender-affirming care. We found no result showing what he did about it, so we're not scoring him either way on that.

The messy bit is the political weather around him. A Star-Advertiser reader letter says Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke was indicted in July, and an October editorial raised questions about no-bid state contracts and loose oversight. The editorial still urged voters to give him four more years. Where you land depends on whether you see that as the system's problem or the boss's.

On the numbers, a January 2026 report had his approval at 56 per cent. A July story has him sparring with a rival candidate over her campaign message, which is ordinary campaign-season stoush.

The good stuff is the day job. He worked in emergency rooms in rural Hawaii, and as lieutenant governor he led the state's COVID response. Our searches didn't turn up any court findings against him personally, but we couldn't open the full articles, so treat that as a gap in the file.