Honolulu City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard grabbed the majority of votes in all but one of 27 state House districts on her way to besting former Mayor Mufi Hannemann and four other candidates for the Democratic nomination for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District seat.
Considered by most to be the underdog to the more experienced Hannemann, who received the bulk of the traditional endorsements, Gabbard not only pulled off an upset, but did so handily.
The Hawaii Poll, sponsored by the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now, had Gabbard surging to within 10 points of Hannemann’s lead at the end of July, a far cry from a February poll that showed her 45 points behind him.
Other polls in recent weeks even had Gabbard ahead, but no one predicted that she would pull off as decisive a win as precinct tallies showed.
Neighbor island voters comprise two-thirds of the 2nd District’s constituency. Because Hannemann once worked and lived on Hawaii island as a C. Brewer executive, while Gabbard has no direct ties to any of the neighbor islands, observers had expected the former mayor would fare better there.
That wasn’t the case, as Gabbard won all three neighbor island counties nearly as handily as she won Oahu.
Gabbard took 57 percent of the vote on Oahu, compared with Hannemann’s 32 percent.
In Hawaii County, Gabbard beat him 53 percent to 32 percent.
In Maui County she won 51 percent to 38 percent; in Kauai County, 52 percent to 38 percent.
The only state House district that Hannemann carried was the 9th House District, which covers the central part of Maui.
There was one hint that Gabbard pulled away in the waning weeks.
More often than not, Hannemann appeared to do better among early voters than those who voted on Saturday. In several precincts, Hannemann won absentee counts but lost on primary day votes.
For instance, at the Koloa Neighborhood Center on Kauai, Hannemann received 233 absentee walk-in and mail votes to Gabbard’s 226. But on the actual election day, Gabbard received 225 votes to Hannemann’s 110.
Something similar happened at the AJA Veterans Memorial Hall in Hilo. Hannemann received support from 522 absentee voters to Gabbard’s 476 pre-election day votes. But on Saturday, Gabbard supporters outnumbered Hannemann voters 457-246.
Walk-in absentee voting for the primary began July 30. The Office of Elections began mailing absentee ballots to overseas Hawaii voters at the end of June.
Gabbard now faces Republican David Kawika Crowley of Hilo in the general election Nov. 6.
Despite having more voters in the 2nd District than Oahu, the neighbor islands have not sent a person to Congress since statehood. Although born on Maui, the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink lived on Oahu as an adult.
Similarly, every 2nd District representative has been a Democrat.
