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Hawaii super PACs eclipsed a record this year for spending on local races, according to the latest Campaign Spending Commission data.

So far this election cycle independent expenditure committees — better known as super PACs — spent $5.9 million supporting or opposing various candidates for office.

Most of that money was spent after the primary, largely on the governor’s race.

The total is more than $400,000 more than what was spent in the entire 2012 election cycle, when the Pacific Resource Partnership emerged as a major force in Hawaii politics.

PRP formed an independent expenditure committee to launch sophisticated political attacks on former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano, who was running for Honolulu mayor.

Cayetano wanted to sink the city’s $5.2 billion rail project, and PRP, which is a consortium of union contractors and carpenters, spent around $4 million to make sure that didn’t happen.

While PRP is once again throwing its cash around in local races — this time under the name Forward Progress — it’s the mainland money that’s fueling spending this year.

The Republican Governors Association, through its American Comeback Committee Hawaii PAC, has spent $1.8 million to try to push GOP candidate Duke Aiona into office.

Hawaii Forward, the super PAC supporting Democrat David Ige for governor, has spent just under $1.5 million. The PAC is mostly funded through the Democratic Governors Association and AFSCME, a public sector union with 1.6 million members.

The National Education Association has also pumped nearly $300,000 into the race in opposition to Aiona.

Both the Democratic Governors Association and its GOP counterpart have spent more on this race than it did in 2010, the last time Aiona ran for office

According to communication statements filed with the Campaign Spending Commission, the Republican Governors Association reported spending $931,000 in 2010. The Democratic Governors Association spent $224,000.

But super PACs aren’t just paying attention to the most high-profile elections these days.

Several well-funded operations, including Forward Progress, the Maui Timeshare Ohana and AiKea, which is funded by the hospitality workers union, are trying to influence local races as well.

These are the groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money so long as they don’t coordinate with the campaign they’re supporting.

And if you’re wondering why they get the special treatment look no further than the U.S. Supreme Court’s , which equated campaign cash to free speech.

Still, Hawaii voters are seeing a whole new classification of special interests dominating this year’s election.

Ballot issue committees have spent more than $8 million this election cycle to make sure there’s public funding for preschool and to fight over the future of genetically modified crops on Maui.

Monsanto alone has put more money into the Maui County ballot initiative than any other super PAC in the state.

In fact, the biotech giant has given more than $5 million to the Citizens Against the Maui County Farming Ban committee to stop the initiative.

That’s almost as much as Gov. Neil Abercrombie spent during the primary trying to prevent his historic collapse.