A couple more competitive candidates submitted required paperwork to be on ballots for Hawaii’s Aug. 13 primary election just ahead of a Tuesday filing deadline.
Former Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona entered the race among Republicans running for governor, and Native Hawaiian activist Walter Ritte from Molokai is competing for a state Senate seat representing parts of Maui County.
Aiona turned in nomination paperwork Tuesday, a day after Ritte.
The two late entries add to what has been a somewhat fluid recent lead-up to one of the state’s broadest election cycles, in which every seat in the Legislature will be on ballots along with three of Hawaii’s four congressional seats, governor, lieutenant governor, mayoral jobs on Maui and Kauai, all neighbor island County Council seats, four of nine Honolulu City Council seats and several Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee positions.
Moves over the past month or so in the field of prominent candidates included former state Sen. Jill Tokuda announcing April 26 that she was changing races from lieutenant governor to the congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele. About a week later, on May 4, former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell canceled his bid to become governor, and three days after that Kahele announced that he would compete to become governor.
In total, about 400 candidates met Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. deadline to file nomination paperwork to be on primary election ballots for about 120 elected office positions, including 53 candidates who filed paperwork Tuesday.
FULL LIST: To see the list of candidates go to Page A10 of today’s Star-Advertiser print replica.
Many candidates lack even a remote chance of winning but enter races with such hope or for other reasons. Fees to become a candidate can be as little as $25, and would-be candidates have to obtain signatures from 15 to 25 eligible voters nominating them, depending on the office sought.
“There’s a lot of magical thinking around election time,” said Colin Moore, director of the Public Policy Center at the University of Hawaii. “There’s plenty of people who can come up with what you need to file.”
Moore said that despite there being 51 state House seats and 25 Senate seats up for election this year, serious challenges probably exist for only around a third of the Legislature — about 20 seats in the House and five in the Senate.
“The field seems a little weak to me, seeing that every seat is up this year,” he said. “I see that as a problem. All of these seats should be competitive.”
All the legislative seats are up for election this year because of redistricting to balance out changes in population every 10 years.
Out of the 76 seats at the Legislature, 13 are being vacated by lawmakers who are either retiring or running for other elected office.
Ritte is competing for one seat where a competitive race is expected, a seat held by Sen. Lynn DeCoite representing Molokai, Lanai and East Maui.
DeCoite, a Democrat, was appointed to the position in 2021 after having served in the House since 2015. Ritte, also a Democrat, ran against DeCoite two years ago in the House and lost by 93 votes, 3,151 to 3,244.
Moore said one unusual part of this year’s primary election is how much competition there is to become the Republican gubernatorial candidate advancing to the Nov. 8 general election.
In addition to Aiona, top contenders are Honolulu Council member Heidi Tsuneyoshi, retired mixed martial arts champion B.J. Penn from Hilo, decorated Army veteran Lynn “Barry” Mariano of Honolulu and Kona business consultant Paul Morgan.
“It’s a very competitive Republican primary,” Moore said.
It’s hard to tell who of the five has the most recognition among voters. Aiona, a former state judge who was lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2010, won the Republican primary for governor in 2010 and 2014 but lost the general election.
Penn is a high-profile athlete who also received publicity for involvement in a couple of public fistfights and railing against some of Hawaii’s COVID-19 safety policies.
Tsuneyoshi has been on the City Council since 2018, and that was her first job in elected office.
Among Democrats, top contenders for governor are Honolulu businessperson and former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano, Lt. Gov. Josh Green and Kahele.
Seeking to replace Green as lieutenant governor among top Democrats are former mayoral candidate and local athletic association executive Keith Amemiya, former City Council member Ikaika Anderson, state Rep. Sylvia Luke and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii CEO Sherry Menor-McNamara.
Moore said he expects voter turnout this year to be not as big as two years ago, because 2020 was a presidential election year, but bigger than 2018 because this year will be the second election where ballots are mailed to all registered voters.
“That boosts our turnout,” he said.
Registered voters should start receiving ballots as early as July 26, according to the state Office of Elections.
SEE WHO FILED
For the full list of candidates, go to Page A10 of today’s Star-Advertiser print replica.
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