While much attention has been put on this year’s contests for Honolulu mayor and prosecuting attorney, voters shouldn’t forget that five of nine City Council seats are up for grabs.
Who wins those elections will determine the future policy decisions for city government, affecting everything from parks and police to land development, homelessness and the rail project.
Because of term limits, none of the five races in the 2020 election include incumbents. Ikaika Anderson, Ann Kobayashi, Joey Manahan, Ron Menor and Kym Pine have all served two consecutive four-year terms and must now make way for a new crop of elected lawmakers who will need to alternately cooperate with and scrutinize the actions of an equally new mayor.
Three of the races include former high-profile lawmakers at the state Legislature, while the other two involve lesser-known figures.
Five hopefuls want the District 1 (Ewa to Waianae Coast) seat to replace Pine. The biggest name is former state Rep. Andria Tupola, who served two terms in the House (from 2012 to 2016) and rose to become House minority leader before forgoing a 2018 reelection bid to vie for the governor’s seat. Tupola won the Republican Party nomination and collected 131,719 votes in her loss to incumbent Democratic Gov. David Ige.
Also in contention are Anthony “Makana” Paris, a research analyst for the Hawaii Ironworkers Stabilization Fund, president of the Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Club and the nephew of T. George Paris, longtime managing director of the influential labor organization, and Kathy Davenport, a retired Air Force major and small business owner who once worked as an aide to Pine.
Other candidates on the ballot are longtime civil servant and current Neighborhood Commission executive assistant Naomi Hanohano, and Makakilo resident and Campbell High School graduate Galen Kerfoot.
The District 3 (Waimanalo to Kaneohe) contest to replace Anderson offers six candidates who have never held elected office. The person with the most name recognition is Esther Kiaaina, executive director of the Pacific Basin Development Council. She was an assistant secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama and has held other positions in Congress and state government. She ran unsuccessfully for Hawaii’s vacant 2nd Congressional seat in 2012.
Greg Thielen, a homebuilder and small business owner, is the son of state Rep. Cynthia Thielen and brother of state Sen. Laura Thielen, both of whom are leaving office, while Grant “Kalani” Kalima is an elementary school teacher and community activist prominent in the recent protests against the city’s plans for Waimanalo Bay Beach Park, commonly known as Sherwood’s.
Alan Kekoa Texeira, who is Anderson’s deputy chief of staff and onetime chief of staff to state Sen. J. Kalani English of Maui, has served on various community councils and committees.
Others vying for the Windward Oahu seat are Warland Kealoha, who has two decades of management experience and owns a small Kailua retail business; and Paul Mossman, a builder and general contractor.
The big name in the District 5 (Kaimuki to Ala Moana) race for the seat that’s being vacated by Kobayashi is onetime House Speaker Calvin Say, who spent 46 years in the Legislature. A small business owner, he was House speaker for 14 years.
Say’s most serious challenger is Dave Watase, who founded the Stop Ala Wai Project website after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified his Palolo property as a detention basin as part of the contentious $345 million Ala Wai flood mitigation project. Planners are now reconsidering the original design.
A third candidate in the race is Philmund Lee, a legislative attorney at the state Capitol and onetime chief of staff to former Rep. Tom Berg, who has run unsuccessful campaigns for the state House, Honolulu mayor and Congress.
The District 7 (Kalihi to Foster Village) race for the seat now held by Manahan features three candidates, none of whom have run for office before. But all have their roots in Kalihi and have been active in community matters and have experience with how government works.
Radiant Cordero is Manahan’s chief of staff, a writer and community advocate. She is also assistant editor of the Fil-Am Courier. Jacob Aki is chief of staff to Sen. English, and Ryan Mandado is a school administrator, former special education teacher and a veteran of several neighborhood boards.
The fight for the District 9 (Mililani to Ewa Beach) seat now held by Menor may be the most intriguing of the five Council races because it features three contenders with names likely to be familiar to voters.
Former state Sen. Will Espero, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2018, spent 19 years in the Legislature and was formerly head of the Honolulu Neighborhood Commission. Comedian and businessman Augie Tulba has worked on the staffs of several elected officials. Earl Tsuneyoshi, a major in the National Guard and combat veteran who works in real estate, is the brother-in-law of District 2 (Mililani-North Shore)
Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi.
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