The respite between campaign seasons grows shorter with every passing election cycle. That is dispiriting, not only because the political noise can be tiresome but because there seems no assurance that the next race will usher in new talent capable of improving the effectiveness and openness of government.

But even in the absence of assurance, there can be hope. Here is one: that some measure of rejuvenation will come from a new generation of adults who will bring their ideas and priorities into the public sphere. These would be people whose working lives are gaining momentum, whose families are being formed and who would be motivated to demand — and be committed to produce — results.

Millennials, are you listening? This means you.

Nationally, there has been an encouraging show of interest by younger citizens seeking office — on either side of the aisle — though it’s still a ways until the 2018 races. Nonprofit political organizations have been working to develop and endorse millennial candidates to run locally in the next election.

The question is: Will Hawaii get a piece of that enthusiasm? It’s not clearly on the horizon yet. Not surprisingly, those angling for the top elected posts are veterans. The field running for governor is still forming, with the incumbent Gov. David Ige and U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa the front-runners.

In a Sunday analysis by Honolulu Star-Advertiser political writer Kevin Dayton, the old guards in the state leadership are shown to be picking favorites largely between these two. No, there are no young, up-and-coming hopefuls who have captured the imagination, at least not yet.

But there is one principal bright spot. There doesn’t seem to be any consensus among the state’s power players — Dayton noted that former governors were split in their candidate preferences. That could signal that Hawaii is ripe for a shakeup.

Perhaps it could come from some of those newly engaged in the process, including those inspired by a wholly unconventional Republican presidential season or by the non-traditional Democratic campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The question: Is there any residual momentum from that grassroots “revolution” that could bring in new blood? Fresh ripples of energy in Hawaii’s stagnant political pond would be a good thing, whatever its source.

This is not out of the realm of possibility. Some 15 years ago, the electorate, weary of the entrenched Democratic Party leadership in this solidly blue state, put a Republican in the governor’s office. Former Gov. Linda Lingle struggled to gain traction on her moderately conservative, pro-business platform. Among the exceptions is the Clean Energy Initiative, which meets both business and environmental objectives.

The fact that this accord was possible suggests that progress lies on a path less dictated by traditional partisan platforms than by a universally appealing one: creating a results-driven government that serves the public.

There shouldn’t be, for example, city housing programs or state highways improvements endowed with millions of federal dollars that linger unspent and are lost. There shouldn’t be crucial Honolulu airport projects bottlenecked — due to deficient, delayed work on an $85 million hangar facility — without accountability or consequences. A real sense of urgency should be applied by state and county agencies to build affordable housing instead of new bureaucracies, keeping those living on the edge from falling into homelessness. A city rail project shouldn’t persist unchecked with billions of dollars in runaway costs.

The old guard has made incremental gains, but Hawaii needs to demand so much more. Its voters now look to 2018 for the next wave of change to roll in. And some of them, the rest of us must hope, will be part of that change.