Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth appears to have fallen short in a bid for a second term, based on early voting results that show challenger Kimo Alameda with a major lead in what was forecast to be a close race.
Alameda received 54% of the tally, compared with 46% for Roth, in an initial tally of results by the state Office of Elections representing a roughly estimated 90% of votes cast.
Alameda, a psychologist who was most recently vice president of business development for the Hawai‘i Island Community Health Center and once led Hawaii County’s Office of Aging, was a formidable opponent who won major union endorsements but raised less money to campaign against the incumbent mayor.
University of Hawaii at Manoa political scientist Colin Moore expected a good chance for either candidate to win what amounted to the marquee race in Hawaii’s general election.
“I think it could go either way,” Moore said in October after the Aug. 10 primary election, in which Roth received 38% of the votes compared with 28% for Alameda while four other candidates attracted 34%.
In addition to the race for Hawaii County mayor, neighbor
island voters made choices for County Council representatives and appear to displace more than one incumbent.
For the Hawaii County Council, incumbent Cindy Evans was losing significantly with 43% of the initial count to challenger James Hustace, who received 57% for the District 9 seat.
The other Hawaii County Council incumbent on the ballot, Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder, was safely beating Ikaika Rodenhurst to represent District 5.
On Maui, six of seven
incumbents facing challengers appear poised for reelection based on the initial vote results.
Maui County Council member Tom Cook, representing South Maui, had a razor-thin lead over former Council member Kelly King, who unsuccessfully ran for Maui mayor in 2022.
Six other incumbents were more handily beating challengers. They were Tamara Paltin, representing West Maui; Alice Lee, representing Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu; Tasha Kama, representing Kahului; Nohe Uu-Hodgins, representing Makawao-Haiku-Paia; Yuki Lei Sugimura, representing Upcountry; and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, representing Molokai.
Council members Shane Sinenci (East Maui) and Gabe Johnson (Lanai) were unopposed.
On Kauai, voters appear to be reelecting at least four incumbents to the island’s seven-member Council, where each voter could make seven selections from among 14 candidates who do not represent geographic districts on the island.
Based on the initial vote results, the seven being elected with the most votes, in order, were Bernard Carvalho Jr., Mel Rapozo, Arryl Kaneshiro, Felicia Cowden, KipuKai Kualii, Addison Bulosan and Fern Holland.
However, the margin for Bulosan and Holland, followed by Ross Kagawa, was too close to be decisive. Bulosan and Kagawa are incumbents, along with Billy DeCosta, who received the ninth-most votes in the initial count.
It’s often difficult for
candidates who aren’t publicly well known to displace incumbents. In the Hawaii island mayor’s race, Moore said Alameda has natural charisma and a local political style similar to the popular late former Mayor Billy Kenoi.
Still, Moore said Roth, who was Hawaii County prosecutor before becoming mayor, probably had only a slight advantage as the incumbent even with considerably more campaign financing for the general election.
Through Oct. 21, Roth added $334,214 in campaign contributions to $70,892
he had on hand at the
beginning of the election period, for a total of $405,106. Of the total, Roth spent $338,525 through Oct. 21, leaving $66,581 for use since then, according to the campaign’s most recent report, filed Monday with the state Campaign Spending
Commission.
By comparison, Alameda raised $290,044 during the election period through Monday with no prior campaign account balance, and had spent all but $28,315,
according to a report filed Tuesday.
Endorsements from labor unions were split between the two mayoral candidates.
Alameda received
endorsements from the
two biggest public worker unions in the state, the Hawaii Government Employees Association and United Public Workers, as well as from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers and the Hawaii Ironworkers Union.
Endorsing Roth were private-sector unions, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Laborers’ International Union, United Brotherhood of Carpenters &Joiners of America, International Union of Operating Engineers and the union representing plumbers and pipe fitters.
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