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Bissen defeats incumbent Maui Mayor Victorino; Kauai Mayor Kawakami re-elected

CHRISTIE WILSON / CWILSON@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Maui mayoral candidate Richard Bissen greets supporters at his election night rally at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului tonight.
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CHRISTIE WILSON / CWILSON@STARADVERTISER.COM

Maui mayoral candidate Richard Bissen greets supporters at his election night rally at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului tonight.

COURTESY PHOTO
                                Kauai Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami
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COURTESY PHOTO

Kauai Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami

CHRISTIE WILSON / CWILSON@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Maui mayoral candidate Richard Bissen greets supporters at his election night rally at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului tonight.
COURTESY PHOTO
                                Kauai Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami

Challenger Richard Bissen was victorious over incumbent Mike Victorino in the hotly contested race for Maui County mayor, according to the latest election results Tuesday night.

Bissen, the former Maui Circuit Court judge and county prosecutor, led with 59% of the vote, while the first-term mayor had 41%. Bissen was ahead by more than 6,400 votes.

On Kauai, incumbent Mayor Derek Kawakami cruised to re-election, capturing 79% of the vote, compared with 21% for Michael Roven Poai.

Also on the neighbor islands, council seats were being contested in three counties.

In Kauai County, seven of the 14 candidates will emerge victorious after the field was whittled down from the 19 hopefuls in the primary election.

These are the top seven in descending order: Luke Evslin, Bernard Carvalho, Addison Bulosan, Mel Rapozo, KipuKai Kuali’i, Ross Kagawa and Felicia Cowden.

The final seven are Billy DeCosta, Fern Anuenue Holland, Rachel Secretario, Lila Metzger, Shirley Simbre-Medeiros, Nelson Mukai and Roy Saito.

On Maui, all of the incumbents appear to be headed for re-election. Lanai incumbent Gabe Johnson has retaken the lead after trailing in initial results against former Council Member Riki Hokama.

Incumbents Shane Sinenci, Tamara Paltin, Alice Lee, Tasha Kama, Yuki Lei Sugimura and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez were re-elected.

Newcomer Tom Cook won the South Maui seat vacated by Kelly Takaya King, who ran for mayor and lost in the primary.

Nohe Uu-Hodgins also captured the Makawao-Haiku-Paia seat being vacated by Mike Molina, who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in the primary.

On Hawaii island, only one council seat was up for grabs tonight, and Jennifer Kagiwada appeared headed to victory over challenger Matthias Kusch for District 2, which includes downtown Hilo.


Go to https://staradvertiser.com/election for updates, resources and live results from today’s Hawaii General Election.


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