For congresswoman-elect Colleen Hanabusa, it was when Hillary Clinton lost Florida that the reality of a Donald Trump presidency began to set in.
“I’m still depressed,” she said Wednesday, echoing the shock and profound worry that gripped Democrats throughout the country who had expected to be celebrating Clinton as the country’s first female president.
Hawaii’s congressional delegation still seemed to be processing what Trump’s presidency could mean for national policy and Hawaii’s political interests.
“I thought it was extremely unlikely and it was a total shock,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said of the victory.
The four members of Hawaii’s Democratic congressional delegation will not only be facing a divisive Republican president in January, but also a Republican-
controlled Congress, making it all the harder for the relatively junior members of Congress to achieve significant power or make headway on policy priorities.
While members of the delegation on Wednesday touted their ability to work across the aisle to get bills passed and secure federal appropriations, the election results were a particular setback for Hawaii’s two senators, who were positioned to head as many as four Senate subcommittees if the Democrats had seized control.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono emphasized that regardless of who is in the White House, her office will continue to fight for constituents.
But when it comes to the larger national policy issues, members of the delegation are taking a wait-and-see approach, unsure of where President-elect Trump stands on policy issues.
“We don’t know what a Trump presidency will look like simply because we don’t know what Trump stands for,” Hanabusa said.
Trump has pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act, build a wall along the country’s southern border, take a hard line against illegal immigrants and roll back clean energy policies and environmental protections. But Hawaii’s delegation, like many political analysts, seem unsure of whether Trump will actually try to fulfill all of those pledges.
“Generally most people who address the issue of border security, do not think that building a wall and making Mexico pay for it is going to work,” Hirono said. “So who knows what his true intentions are? But he has articulated those kinds of ideas.”
Hirono expressed particular concern over what could happen to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and were given limited legal status in the United States under an Obama policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Schatz said he was unsure of Trump’s stances on foreign policy issues and how Trump and Republicans in Congress will pull off a repeal of Obama’s health insurance reform.
“The Affordable Care Act is no doubt going to be the first order of business with the Republican Congress, but that will be easier said than done because they are going to be the dog that finally catches the car,” he said. “And they have no alternative to the Affordable Care Act and have been running against it for years.”
Like many in the country, members of the delegation are looking to see whether Trump will actually pivot to being more moderate and inclusive now that he has won the presidency.
“It’s impossible to know whether he will govern in the way he campaigned,” Schatz said. “I certainly hope that he governs from the middle. And if he takes moderate positions, I will be able to work with him. If not, then we are going to have to have a fight.”
The delegation’s fourth member, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, was not available for an interview for this story.
