Josh
Green

Hawaiʻi News Now reported that Gov. Green turned down a debate invitation, alongside Congressman Ed Case. This followed earlier reporting that Cordery had repeatedly sought a televised debate with no response from Green.

Following the release of the state audit, Green's office said the kauhale program had accepted all 11 audit recommendations while disputing what it called significant factual errors. Green stated: 'We welcome accountability and will continue strengthening the program.'

A state audit found more than $13.7 million in payments associated with Green's kauhale homelessness initiative that were unauthorized, unsupported, or questionable, including over $7.7M in unauthorized costs and nearly $5M in questionable costs. Auditors cited inadequate oversight by the state office.

Civil Beat reported that Republican nominee Gary Cordery had repeatedly asked Green for a televised debate and said Green had not responded. Green's campaign did not directly answer the outlet's question about a side-by-side debate.

Civil Beat reported Green had raised more than $3.7 million during the election cycle—about nine times Cordery's total. The outlet also noted there was no publicly available independent polling measuring the general-election race.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Morning Consult measured Green's in-state job approval at 64%, ranking him third nationally among governors. This is an approval rating, not a head-to-head electoral poll.

At a health-workforce summit, Green declined to take a position on the proposed HMSA–Hawaiʻi Pacific Health combination while regulators were reviewing it, saying it was not his role, but called for local healthcare stakeholders to shape reforms.

Green won the Democratic governor primary with 184,289 votes, or 81.7% of the party's vote, setting up a general-election matchup against Republican Gary Cordery, who won his primary with 66.6%.