Calling himself someone who will fight for the middle class, City Councilman Ikaika Anderson joined the race for Congress in the Democratic primary.
Anderson, 35, joins a field of three other declared Democrats in the race to represent urban Oahu in the U.S. House.
"The people of the 1st Congressional District will have a solid group of choices in front of them, and I look forward to taking our message to them," Anderson said Thursday at a news conference at Kakaako Waterfront Park. "We’re up to the challenge. I do look forward to earning their support."
Anderson pledged to fight for the middle class, to protect social service programs and support the military and veterans.
"We need to ensure that we protect our middle class," he said. "As a member of the middle class, we need to ensure that the social safety nets that are there for our middle class remain in place and that we assist those that are not yet in the middle class, but who are struggling and striving to get there."
Anderson dismissed concerns that he does not live in the district he seeks to represent. Candidates for Congress are not required to live in the district. Anderson is in the second year of his first full term on the Council representing the Waimanalo-Kailua-Kaneohe district.
"Hawaii has only two congressional seats. Those two congressional seats belong equally to all of the people of Hawaii," he said, saying that as vice chairman of the City Council and chairman of its Zoning and Planning Committee, he already serves the entire island of Oahu.
"The committee that I chair has made some of the most critical decisions for all of the people of Honolulu, particularly the residents of the 1st Congressional District," he added.
Anderson joins fellow City Councilman Stanley Chang (who represents the area from Waikiki to Makapuu Point) in the race, along with state Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) and state Rep. Mark Takai (D, Halawa-Aiea-Newtown).
"I think the field is really predictable in that this is a shot for younger politicians who are reasonably well known in certain parts of the island or certain parts of the state to make the move to run for congressional seats," said Neal Milner, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii.
"These seats don’t open up very often."
Anderson, who won a special election in 2009 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Barbara Marshall, for whom he worked as a legislative aide, is not required to resign his seat on the Council.
"Rest assured, the people who have elected me in City Council District 3 can expect the same level of excellent service from myself and my staff," he said.
Anderson is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaii. He and his wife, Lisa, and their four young children live in Waimanalo.
The congressional seat is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz for his seat to fill the remaining two years in the term of former U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who died in December.
No Republicans have announced their candidacy in the race.
