In what appeared to be two hotly contested state House races, incumbents had insurmountable leads against a pair of community activists in tonight’s Democratic primaries.
After the second round of returns, Rep. Mark Nakashima had 3,514 votes, 73 percent, to Koohan Paik-Mander’s 1,270 votes and 27 percent in District 1, with two of five precincts reporting plus the absentee and walk-in vote.
And in District 2, Rep. Chris Todd had 3,367 votes, 77 percent to Terri Napeahi’s 1,032 votes and 23 percent, with five of nine precincts reporting plus the absentee and walk-in vote.
It’s the first election win for the 30-year-old Todd, appointed to the seat in January 2017 by Gov. David Ige to replace the late Rep. Clift Tsuji, who died in 2016 after being re-elected.
“Obviously, we feel very good about it,” Todd said. “There’s a moment before the initial results come out where you’re super nervous and everything, but we’re super happy about it.”
Todd has two full legislative sessions under his belt representing Keaukaha, Panaewa, Waiakea and parts of Hilo town. He’s vice chairman of the Water and Land Committee and sits on the Energy & Environmental Protection and Finance committees.
He said a priority, if he wins in November’s general election, will be to work with Sen. Kai Kahele of Hilo on “some form of expansion of early college.”
“I think Hilo is primed for that, having (Hawaii Community College and the University of Hawaii at Hilo) here and having two major high schools within a mile or two of the university. I think that’s going to be a huge priority.
“Beyond that, we have some loose ends to tie up with Banyan Drive (redevelopment funding), and I do want to prioritize a lot of what’s going on in the Hawaiian Homesteads, which is an area that needs to be uplifted. … That means continuing to push for more community health issues in that area and making sure that they’re not made to bear the brunt of all this industrial development right next to the Hawaiian Homesteads. It’s an area that should be preserved and we want to make sure it maintains its special qualities.
“We are going to be working together with the community on some after-school initiatives, and hopefully some expansion of their park facilities.”
The 56-year-old Napeahi, founder of the Keaukaha Action Network, ran on initiatives to benefit the Keaukaha, Panaewa and Hawaiian Homesteads communities, pointing to industrial facilities such as Hilo International Airport, Port of Hilo, and the Puhi Bay county sewage outfall, as negatively impacting the health and safety of residents in the district.
“This is all positive, what we’ve been raising and the voices of our people,” Napeahi said. “I’m basically willing to work with our public officials and that is what we’ve been doing already. And a lot of issues that we’ve been raising have been heard.Hopefully, we can get more of these issues done and I like that Chris Todd is thinking about that, about our issues.”
Todd will run against Grace Manipol Larson, a Republican who held a decisive 159 to 66 lead over Bryan Feste, 71 percent to 29 percent. Feste was expelled last month by the Hawaii Republican Party after he distributed campaign literature with derogatory statements about African Americans and Jewish Americans. Feste, originally from Washington state, told the Tribune-Herald he favored an “all-white nation.”
Manipol-Larson, 39, who is president of the Hilo Visayan Club, said she was happy to win the GOP primary. She added she would be working to ensure “additional leave of absence for new moms.” Hawaii law currently requires employers with 100or more employees to provide four weeks of paid family leave, with some exceptions. She noted that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, recently returned to work after taking six weeks of maternity leave, but that New Zealand’s paid maternity leave is soon increasing from 22 weeks to 26 weeks.
“I propose that, like New Zealand, we offer up to six months of maternity leave to help families cope with their new family situation,” Larson said.
In District 1, which encompasses Hamakua, North Hilo and a portion of South Hilo, the 55-year-old Nakashima, a former teacher and Hawaii State Teachers Association official, retains his seat for a sixth term as there is no Republican or non-partisan opposition in November’s general election.
“I am feeling good about it,” Nakashima said.
In Paik-Mander, Nakashima faced an aggressive campaigner who accused him of giving Big Island Dairy, which has been fined for wastewater discharges, “a free pass to pollute and disfigure beautiful Hamakua.” In addition, Paik-Mander criticized Nakashima’s vote to approve an increase in the state transient accommodations tax, or TAT, to bail out Honolulu’s troubled fixed-rail transit system under construction, calling it a vote “to fund an Oahu project that we will never use or benefit from.”
A member of the Legislative Management Committee, Nakashima said a priority for the 2019 legislative session is to continue working on projects already in progress, including the state employee training program, which he called “critical to improving the services of the state and being much more responsive to the needs of the citizens.”
“We’ll be looking at ways to make the training program much more durable,” he said. “That’s one of the first thing that we cut when budgets aren’t making the goals, so we’ll be looking to insulate the training program, so that’s not the first thing that we cut.”
He’s also looking to get funding to complete capital improvement projects at E.B. de Silva, Haaheo and Honokaa elementary schools.
“Hale Ho‘ola Hamakua (medical facility in Honokaa) is also an aging facility, so there are improvements we need to make there.””
The Tribune-Herald was unable to reach Paik-Mander by deadline.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.