5 incumbent state lawmakers on path to lose seats, but Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki holding on
JAMM AQUINO / 2020
The rotunda is seen at the Hawaii State Capitol, where state lawmakers conduct business during the legislative session. Because of redistricting, all 76 state House and Senate seats are up for election.
Stay updated on Hawaii and national elections coverageA few incumbent Hawaii lawmakers are on a path to being ousted from the Legislature based on largely complete voting results in today’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 the first two tallies of votes representing nearly all ballots cast.
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 Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto by a small 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.
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Two incumbents who are losing were pitted against each other because of redistricting.
Rep. Roy Takumi is getting beat 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 is getting beat by Sen. Lorraine Inouye for the redrawn Senate District 1 seat on representing Hilo and neighboring areas where a third Democrat challenger, former Hawaii County managing director Will Okabe, received the least votes.
The only other incumbents losing are Misalucha, Kobayashi and Clark, who were competing against Democrat challengers.
Misalucha is 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 is losing to Andrew Garrett in the House District 22 race covering Manoa. Garrett is the state’s deputy director of human resources.
Clark is trailing Mahina Poepoe, a Maui County legislative analyst from Molokai.
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.
Ten lawmakers faced no challenger in the primary or general election.
Go to https://staradvertiser.com/election for updates, resources and live results from today’s Hawaii Primary Election.
