Two Honolulu City Council seats are up for grabs in the general election and who wins could determine the success of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s agenda during his last two years occupying the third-floor corner of Honolulu Hale.

In District 4 (East Honolulu), incumbent Trevor Ozawa finds himself in a rematch with former state Rep. Tommy Waters, whom he beat by 41 votes during the general election in 2014. Ozawa is a key supporter of Council Chairman Ernie Martin and is among Caldwell’s staunchest critics on the Council while Waters has been an ally of the mayor since the two served in the state House in the early 2000s.

The District 8 (Aiea to Waipahu) race sees incumbent Brandon Elefante facing off against political newcomer Kelly Kitashima, a hotel executive who was Mrs. Hawaii 2016. Elefante has been at odds with Martin’s leadership team and is viewed as an independent thinker who often will buck the Council majority and side with Caldwell. Kitashima has received support from Martin, Ozawa and others in the Council majority.

Martin is finishing up his second consecutive four-year term on the Council and is barred from running for a third one. But Heidi Tsuneyoshi, an aide to Martin, won the right to be his replacement as the District 2 (Mililani Mauka to Kahaluu) Council member after winning more than 50 percent of the vote in the August primary election against three other candidates.

A key issue in the East Honolulu race is the sprouting of large-scale residences, or “monster houses,” in older communities such as Kaimuki, Palolo and Wilhelmina Rise. A flyer sent by Waters earlier this month accused Ozawa of misleading the public by taking credit for a temporary moratorium on the building of large-scale residences. It noted that it was Council member Ikaika Anderson who introduced Bill 110 (2017), the measure signed by Caldwell that put the moratorium in place.

But Ozawa, in a blog post on his campaign website, pointed out that he pushed through two resolutions (17-198 and 17- 276) in early fall 2017 pressing for reforms in building and land use laws to curb large-scale houses. Council members Carol Fukunaga and Ann Kobayashi introduced Bill 94 (2017), an initial proposal calling for a moratorium, in October 2017. That was deferred in the Zoning and Planning Committee chaired by Councilwoman Kymberly Pine in November. Anderson then introduced his moratorium bill in December.

City law says when there are only two candidates in the race, they face off in November rather than August so Elefante and Kitashima will be facing each other for the first time.

Both candidates support the city’s $8 billion rail project, which runs through the district.

Kitashima touts her experience in the tourism industry and says a focus will be on fiscal accountability. Elefante has championed infrastructure improvements in the district as well as transit-oriented development.

One area where the two differ is in their approaches to addressing homelessness. Elefante has consistently voted against bills that would oust people sheltering on sidewalks and believes the focus should be on providing more shelter space and services for the homeless. Kitashima supports anislandwide sidewalk sit-lie ban.

An Ozawa victory would pave the way for the current leadership team to continue with Council Vice Chairwoman Kymberly Pine, Fukunaga, Kobayashi and Heidi Tsuneyoshi forming a majority, regardless of who wins the District 8 fight. Tsuneyoshi, a political newcomer, and Fukunaga won victories in their Honolulu City Council races in August.

A Waters victory over Ozawa coupled with a successful re-election bid by Elefante would likely shake up the current power structure and bring forward a team that would probably include members Anderson, Joey Manahan and Ron Menor.

An upset win by Kita­shima against Elefante would probably keep what’s now the Martin faction intact, regardless of what happens in the Ozawa-Waters battle.

Community advocate Natalie Iwasa, who finished third in the August runoff election for the District 4 seat, is backing Waters against Ozawa. Iwasa collected 3,917 votes in the primary while Ozawa received 2,637 votes more than Waters. If a majority of Iwasa’s votes move into Waters’ column, it could spell trouble for Ozawa.