The 15 candidates vying to become Honolulu’s next mayor can be divided into two camps: those trying to persuade voters that these unprecedented times require a leader with political experience and those who argue the COVID-19 crisis demands fresh and creative thinking from someone outside government.
For the first time in 40 years, novice candidates who have never run for political office hold a legitimate shot at capturing the prize. One of them, Keith Amemiya, has raised the most money of them all during the campaign, while fellow first-timer Rick Blangiardi took in the most money in the first half of the year.
But voters seeking a political veteran have options as well. Former Mayor Mufi Hannemann, former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and current City Councilwoman Kym Pine each have at least 15 years in elective office.
Blangiardi retired as general manager of Hawaii News Now in January and announced his first foray into elective politics the following month. Blangiardi says he led the news team that tackled homelessness and other thorny issues.
Jumping into troubled situations is something he’s used to, he says.
“The mayor is the CEO of the city,” Blangiardi says on his webpage. “The job is to lead and to manage — people, money, resources. I’ve spent a career doing exactly that, in companies both here in Hawaii and larger companies on the mainland.”
Amemiya, former senior vice president of Island Holdings, is best known for his 12 years as executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. Among the issues he tackled that those “before him were too afraid to touch,” according to his campaign website, were inequities between the big and small schools and between public and private schools, and the treatment of girls and boys sports, Amemiya’s website says.
While he has influential supporters in the business community, Amemiya insists he’s a government outsider. “New, innovative solutions will come from someone with a fresh perspective,” his website says.
Hannemann was first elected mayor in 2004 and was halfway into his second term when he resigned to run for governor in 2010. Now president and CEO of the Hawai‘i Lodging &Tourism Association, the former mayor’s campaign slogan plays off the current economic crisis that has caused high unemployment: “If you put me back at my old job, my mission is to put you back at yours.”
Prior to becoming mayor, Hannemann was a member of the City Council from 1994 to 2004, serving as chairman for a while. He also worked in Washington, D.C., for two presidents and is a former director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Hanabusa served in Congress twice — 2010 to 2014 and 2016 to 2018 — and in the state Senate from 1996 to 2010, where for a time she served as president.
“With my experience and relationships with federal and state leaders, and with your help and support we can start to address these issues,” Hanabusa says on her website. She also notes she was appointed to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board and was, for a time, its chairwoman.
In 2018, she chose to forego a reelection bid for Congress and unsuccessfully challenged Gov. David Ige.
Pine is the only mayoral candidate currently in office at Honolulu Hale. First elected to the Council in 2012, she is finishing her second four-year term in the District 1 seat (Ewa Beach to Waianae Coast). Pine has chaired two key panels: the Zoning and Housing Committee and the Business and Economic Development Committee.
Before winning election to the Council, she served four two-year terms in the state House of Representatives, from 2004 to 2012. Pine also is the only major candidate with a young child.
“I want to revive Honolulu so my daughter can afford to live, work and raise a family here,” Pine says on her campaign website.
A darkhorse candidate due to her appeal to a different constituency is Kahuku real estate broker and community activist Choon James, who says she’s spent ample time at Council meetings over the last 12 years advocating for progressive issues.
With the slogans “Residents first” and “Take the government back,” James is refusing to accept campaign contributions from lobbyists and political action committees, vowing to root out corruption at Honolulu Hale. In 2018, she ran for the Council’s District 2 seat and finished third behind winner Heidi Tsuneyoshi and state Sen. Bobby Bunda.
Two Republicans who’ve held elective office are also offering themselves up for the mayor’s job — attorney and former state Sen. John Carroll and former state Rep. William “Bud” Stonebraker, now a pastor and farmer.
The other seven mayoral candidates are David “Duke” Bourgoin, Ernest
Caravalho, Karl O. Dicks, Tim Garry, Audrey Keesing, Micha Laakea Mussell and Ho Yin “Jason” Wong.
In the nonpartisan city elections, candidates in each race run against each other in the primary election, or what the City Charter calls the “first special election.” If the top vote-getter finishes with a majority of the votes cast, then that candidate wins outright, avoiding a November runoff.
If that doesn’t happen, the top two finishers go head-to-head in the general election, also known as the “second special election.” The 2020 general election, also by mail-in ballot, is
Nov. 3.
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