From Staff Reports From Staff Reports ADVERTISING The election is over before it even begins for two Big Island state representatives and two County Council members who won their respective races as of the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday filing deadline. Incumbent
From Staff Reports
The election is over before it even begins for two Big Island state representatives and two County Council members who won their respective races as of the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday filing deadline.
Incumbent state Reps. Clift Tsuji, D-Hilo, and Cindy Evans, D-North Kona mauka, South and North Kohala, will breeze back into office with no competition, even though Tsuji’s district was renumbered because of reapportionment, and lines for both districts changed significantly over previous years. It’s the first time either has run unopposed.
Tsuji, a four-term representative, said that despite being a shoe-in, he will continue to campaign and receive feedback from voters. Additionally, he said, he will continue to represent the entire island, and not just those residents in his district.
“I thank the voting constituency for having that much confidence in me,” he said. “This provides me a greater challenge and responsibility going into my elective term.
“But,” he added, “the redistricting should not be viewed that I am abandoning in any way those areas that are now left out of the district I’m supposed to represent in District 2. I’ve always strived to represent the community at large.”
Evans, a five-term representative, said her newly configured district is “very small-town, rural Hawaii,” and she’s eager to represent it.
“It would be great to get a headstart on the important issues for the district,” now that the campaign is over, Evans said.
On the County Council front, Hilo’s Dennis Onishi will hold onto his seat again after running unopposed in 2010. Meanwhile, newcomer Dru Kanuha will represent Kailua-Kona.
Onishi did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday evening, but Kanuha was incredulous to hear of his easy win. Kanuha’s political experience is limited to his term on the 2011 county Redistricting Commission that drew the new boundaries for County Council districts, and two years as the Kona representative on the Hawaii Island Burial Council. He has never before held elective office.
He vowed to continue his door-to-door canvassing as a way to take the pulse of the district he is about to represent. He said he’ll also continue to participate in forums and candidate events.
“I was excited when I pulled papers, I was excited when I filed, and I’m really excited now,” Kanuha said. “I look forward to working with the community and the other council members and even the mayor, to work together and respect each other.”
The district was formerly that of three-term South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford, but she was moved into a sprawling new South Kona/Ka‘u district, where she’s pitted against challengers Maile David and Bradley Westervelt.
The island added a fourth state Senate seat, and the competition turned out in force to run for it, with four Democrats and one Republican filing papers by the 4:30 p.m. deadline Tuesday. State Rep. Bob Herkes, a Democrat whose old House district was chopped up by reapportionment, is running for the vacant Senate District 2 seat, as are fellow Democrats Wendell Kaehuaea, Russell Ruderman and Gary Safarik, and Republican Daryl Smith.
Senate District 2 is the only four-year Senate seat on the island, with Districts 1, 3 and 4 shortened to two years to create staggered terms for future elections.
In Senate District 1, term-limited County Councilman Donald Ikeda is challenging incumbent Sen. Gilbert Kahele in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary.
In Senate District 3, incumbent Sen. Josh Green, a Captain Cook Democrat, faces nonpartisan challenger Michael Last of Naalehu and Republicans John Totten and Jeff LaFrance of Kailua-Kona in the Nov. 6 general election.
The Senate District 4 race features current incumbent Sen. Malama Solomon and former Sen. Lorraine Inouye, both Democrats, and former County Councilman Kelly Greenwell, running under the Green Party.
The Primary Election will be held Saturday, Aug. 11, with the last day to register to vote on July 12.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
