The Democratic Party of Hawaii’s state central committee will meet on Dec. 28 to decide on three potential candidates to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Dante Carpenter, the party’s chairman, said Democrats hope to forward the recommendations to Gov. Neil Abercrombie in time for the governor to make an appointment before new senators are sworn in in Washington, D.C., in early January.

"That is the target to ensure that we have somebody in place for the swearing in so we do not lose one second of potential seniority time in the U.S. Senate," Carpenter said.

The appointed senator will serve until voters in 2014 elect a senator to fill out the remainder of Inouye’s term, which runs through 2016.