Gary Cordery

Gary Cordery was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and grew up in Auburn, California, near Sacramento.⁠[1][2]

In 1978 Cordery began working in construction as a laborer, traveling around the country on military contracts; in 1981 he moved to Hawaii.⁠[2]

In 1998 Cordery founded Kingdom Builders, a general contracting company that has 13 employees. He has never held public office.⁠[1][2]

In 2022 Cordery ran for governor of Hawaii for the first time, finishing third in the Republican primary with 10.9% of the vote, behind Duke Aiona (49.6%) and BJ PennUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania, commonly called Penn, is a private research university and Ivy League member in Philadelphia. It traces its origins to a 1740 charity-school project; Benjamin Franklin proposed his academy in 1749, classes began in 1751, and a 1791 merger established the institution under its present name. Penn has 12 schools, with undergraduate education concentrated in arts and sciences, engineering, nursing and Wharton. Enrollment totaled 29,384 in fall 2025, and the fiscal 2025 endowment was $24.81 billion. As of October 2026, J. Larry Jameson was president, with his term scheduled to end on June 30, 2027.Open the full entry (26.1%). He later filed legal challenges, which the courts dismissed.⁠[1][2]

On August 8, 2026, Cordery defeated Ken Fujiyama 74.8% to 25.2% in the Republican gubernatorial primary to become the Republican nominee, with Daniel Anthony as his running mate. He and the Democratic incumbent, Governor Josh Green, both named the cost of living as their top issue.⁠[1][3][2]

Cordery proposed freezing property taxes on primary residences for homeowners of retirement age, eliminating the general excise tax on food and medicine, creating an “Office of Transparency and Audits,” and making the state attorney general an elected office through a constitutional amendment. He opposed government vaccine requirements, saying, “People have the fundamental right of full bodily autonomy.” He also criticized Green’s use of emergency proclamations, saying, “Issuing Emergency Proclamations do not provide for advanced planning.”⁠[2][3]

On November 3, 2026, the Associated Press declared that Green had defeated Cordery to win reelection. The first results released that night by the state Office of Elections showed the Republican ticket with just over 20% of the vote, or 58,498 votes for Cordery and Anthony, and the Democratic ticket with about 75%.⁠[3][4]

Cordery is a co-founder and former director of the Aloha Freedom Coalition; he has said he resigned as director before 2022 but remains on its board. He has also been affiliated with the Waikiki Beach Chaplaincy.⁠[2][1]

Gary Cordery for Governor: Official website: https://garycorderyforgovernor.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

X: Public account: https://x.com/GCForGov (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Garycorderyforgovernor2026 (opens in a new window).⁠[5]