A few incumbent Hawaii lawmakers are on a path to being ousted from the Legislature based on near-complete voting results in Saturday’s primary election.
Two Oahu lawmakers — Sen. Bennette Misalucha representing the Aiea area and Rep. Dale Kobayashi representing Manoa — as well as Rep. Linda Clark representing parts of Maui County including Molokai and Lanai are among five incumbents in the Legislature trailing significantly after nearly all ballots were counted.
Voting results reported by the state Office of Elections are also narrowing the field for selecting roughly a dozen new lawmakers who will replace existing members of the House of Representatives and Senate who are retiring or running for other elected office.
All 25 seats in the Senate and 51 in the House are on the ballot this year because of redistricting.
In one closely watched race that stood to shake up leadership in the House, current House Speaker Scott Saiki was fending off a challenge from former state Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto by a wide margin in the Democratic Party primary to represent the Ala Moana- Kakaako area on Oahu.
Saiki is a centrist who has served in the Legislature since 1994. Iwamoto, a progressive Democrat, came close to defeating Saiki two years ago and lost by just 167 votes. This time, Saiki was leading by 212 votes after the second tally.
Two incumbents who were losing got pitted against each other because of redistricting.
Rep. Roy Takumi was getting beaten by Rep. Gregg Takayama in a race for a redrawn House District 34 seat on Oahu covering much of Pearl City.
On Hawaii island, Sen. Laura Acasio was trailing Sen. Lorraine Inouye for the redrawn Senate District 1 seat representing Hilo and neighboring areas where a third Democratic challenger, former Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe, received the least votes in the initial tally.
The only other incumbents who were losing widely based on the initial tally of ballots were Misalucha, Kobayashi and Clark.
Misalucha was being defeated by City Council member Brandon Elefante, who is term-limited on the Council, in Senate District 16 that includes Aiea and neighboring areas.
Kobayashi was losing to Democratic challenger Andrew Garrett in the House District 22 race covering Manoa. Garrett is the state’s deputy director of human resources.
Clark was trailing Democratic challenger Mahina Poepoe, a Maui County legislative analyst from Molokai.
In a few fairly competitive primary races between Democrats, incumbent Reps. Sonny Ganaden, Sharon Har and Lynn DeCoite were prevailing against their inter-party challengers.
Ganaden had a strong lead against former lawmaker and Honolulu City Council member Romy Cachola to represent an area on Oahu including part of Kalihi. In 2020, Ganaden beat Cachola, who has had trouble with campaign finance violations.
In the race for House District 42 that includes parts of Ewa and Kapolei, Har fended off a challenge from Lori Goeas and Anthony Paris in the Democratic primary. Har was perceived by some as vulnerable to replacement in the wake of her 2021 drunken driving arrest and acquittal on procedural grounds in January.
DeCoite, a Molokai rancher and farmer, was challenged by Molokai activist Walter Ritte for a Senate district seat representing parts of Maui County that include Molokai. DeCoite beat Ritte in a close 2020 race for a state House seat.
Leaders in a couple of higher profile Democratic primary races for open seats include Jenna Takenouchi, the office manager for retiring Rep. Takashi Ohno, and former state teachers union leader Corey Rosenlee.
Takenouchi topped former Honolulu City Council member Gary Gill for a House District 27 seat that includes Pacific Heights and Nuuanu on Oahu.
Rosenlee, a James Campbell High School teacher and former president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, was beating two Democratic challengers to fill a House seat vacated in January by Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen, who pleaded guilty to bribery charges tied to his work as a lawmaker.
In this race for House District 39 that covers West Loch as well as some of Waipahu and Royal Kunia on Oahu, the two contenders trailing Rosenlee were Kevin Wilson, who has been a staffer in the House during nine legislative sessions, and Jamaica “Mai” Cullen, who is the sister-in-law of Ty Cullen and worked in his office as a committee clerk during the past four legislative sessions.
In most of the primary election contests for seats in the Legislature typically dominated by Democrats but also held by a few Republicans, candidates from competing parties are on the ballot and will face off in the general election.
Three incumbent Democratic lawmakers likely secured reelection in Saturday’s primary election by beating out challengers within the same party for seats that attracted no candidates from other parties.
These three are Sen. Henry Aquino representing an area that includes parts of West Loch, Waipahu and Pearl City; Rep. Justin Woodson in House District 9 that includes Kahului and some of Wailuku on Maui; and Rep. Sam Kong for House District 33 that includes part of Aiea on Oahu.
Ten lawmakers faced no challenger in the primary or general election.
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