Because he has never run for office in Hawaii, Rick Blangiardi may be considered a political outsider — but the campaign team revealed when Blangiardi announced for mayor last week was a perfectly balanced cast of insiders.

Of course, you don’t want a team comprised of first-time voters, but when your team includes the former head of the state’s largest medical complex, Hawaii’s most successful GOP governor, a savvy businesswoman and wife of a groundbreaking Democratic Hawaii governor, and scads of community leaders, your kuleana looks like a big part of the Hawaii establishment.

Blangiardi just completed a successful broadcast management career, ending with a decade as general manager of Hawaii News Now, which he said gave him “a broad overview, and clear insight to the key issues that must become our priority in managing our city.”

To introduce himself to the grassroots, Blangiardi is planning to campaign in “all 35 Neighborhood Board districts in the coming weeks because we want our campaign to understand what matters most to you and your community.”

Blangiardi is the second major political newcomer to the mayoral race, joining businessman Keith Amemiya, a senior vice president of Island Holdings Inc., the parent company of Island Insurance, Atlas Insurance Agency, Tradewind Capital Group, IC International and Pacxa.

Amemiya may be another political newbie, but he is being strongly backed by Colbert Matsumoto, who has helped guide several major political campaigns.

Also in the race is Councilwoman Kym Pine, who is also a legislative veteran. She has been adept at raising campaign money but has yet to set about defining her campaign.

The fourth major candidate is former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who is running a quiet campaign. Decidedly not a political neophyte, Hanabusa has been a state legislative leader and was a successful Democrat in Congress when in 2014 she challenged the then-appointed U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in a statewide Senate race. Since then Hanabusa has won her U.S. House seat but failed at another U.S. Senate race in 2014 and a race for governor in 2018.

For Hanabusa, the challenge is widening her base. In the last four races, Hana- busa’s Oahu vote total has dropped, going from a high 92,000 in her 2012 race for Congress, to just 68,300 in her gubernatorial campaign.

Most likely, 68,000-plus votes in a primary is not enough to move into a general election race for mayor. Winners of the last two mayoral primaries had 90,900 votes and 74,300 votes, respectively.

For all four major candidates, time is of the essence.

For the first time ever in a regular election, all voting will be by mail and the ballots will drop on July 21, meaning that voters can start voting on July 22 for the primary that ends on Aug. 8. So in the first stage of this race with two newcomers and two mostly mute veterans, this race is a five-month sprint.

The biggest question voters will have is not, “Do I like her stand on the issues?”; it will be, “Who are you?”

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.