It has been decided that B.J. Penn will not succeed Linda Lingle as governor of Hawaii.
In the beginning of this year, Penn announced that he will be running for the nomination of governor of the Republican party. Penn is a UFC Hall of Famer and a former champion in both the lightweight and welterweight weight classes. According to The Associated Press, Penn’s opponent in the Republican primary, Duke Aiona, was able to defeat Penn by a significant margin.
With 90 percent of the precincts reporting, Aiona is in the lead with approximately 52 percent of the votes. Even though slightly more than 24 percent of votes have been counted, Penn is now in second place, which is a far cry from Aiona, who leads the pack by a wide margin.
As a result, Aiona will face Josh Green, who easily prevailed in the Democratic primary and will be Aiona’s opponent in the contest for governor in November. It is anticipated that Green would emerge victorious in the contest for governor. During the primaries, slightly more than 59,000 votes were cast for the Republican candidate, compared to more than 216,000 votes cast for the Democratic candidate.
Green and Aiona will compete against one another in the gubernatorial election to determine who would succeed incumbent Governor David Ige, who is barred from seeking re-election owing to term limitations. The state of Hawaii uses both in-person voting and mail-in ballots for its election process. Saturday at 7 o’clock in the evening, Hawaii time, was the cutoff for primary ballots.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but I would never run from a fight or sell out my people,” Penn shared on Instagram.
“As soon as I step into Hawaii’s Governor office I will remove All new federal and state mandates that have been hurting our economy, residents, and ‘ohana. We will get the best doctors, medicines, therapies, and health care the world has to offer to fight this pandemic and always keep Hawaii among the safest and healthiest states in the union.
“We will get rid of all vaccine passports. Hawaii will be a vaccinated with Aloha and Unvaccinated with Aloha policy for everyone. Same with the masks. We will follow the constitution to the tee. I am not here to fit in with the other politicians, I am here to get our freedoms back!”
Since his defeat against Clay Guida in May 2019, Penn has not competed in a fight. Late in 2019, he was scheduled to face off against his adversary Nik Lentz, however the bout never took place. Penn suffered consecutive defeats in seven fights during the course of his almost decade-long career with the UFC. After losing the lightweight championship to Frankie Edgar in April of 2010,
he embarked on a losing streak that lasted for more than nine years and consisted of a record of 1-9-1.
Following the publication of footage showing Penn engaging in a fight outside of a bar, he was dismissed from his position with the UFC. Penn is seen on one video getting knocked down by a punch, and another video shows Penn punching the man while they are both on the ground.
Penn has a long history of running into legal trouble. In April of 2019, a restraining order was handed down to Penn after the woman who is the biological mother of his children accused him of years of physically and sexually abusing his children. In February of 2020, a single-car accident that occurred in Penn’s hometown of Hilo, Hawaii, was followed by a blood-alcohol test, which led to an investigation into the possibility that Penn had been driving under the influence of alcohol. Penn was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving in January 2021 and placed in handcuffs by the police. The incident was captured on film.
