Puna voters decided Tuesday that state Sen. Joy San Buenaventura, 63, will hold on to her seat in District 2, easily beating both Libertarian challenger Fred Fogel and Republican challenger Holly Osborn.
District 2 represents Puna and parts of Ka‘u.
With mail-in and most dropoff ballots tallied, San Buenaventura, a Democrat, earned 76.3% of the vote, or 8,302 of the 10,880 votes cast.
“I think the reason I’ve been consistently elected is I do my best to do community outreach,” said San Buenaventura, who mentioned her consistent newsletters and open-door policy with the community on sharing ideas. “During the pandemic, we did our best to help people with their unemployment, whenever they had problems with it, and we also did our best to help when they had problems getting their stimulus monies and the like. It’s that kind of community outreach that I believe helped me win.”
San Buenaventura was first elected to the state House in 2014 when she defeated Republican Gary Thomas, earning 71.6% of the vote. She then served in the state Senate for District 2 in 2020 when she defeated Ron Ka-Ipo of the Aloha Aina Party.
San Buenaventura plans to prioritize affordable housing for the Puna community when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“Frankly, I think Puna can really show people how we can do affordable housing really well,” she said. “First agenda on my list would be to ensure that we do not increase our homelessness here in Puna, that people will not only have homes, but homes they can afford, and that we won’t see more of the hidden homeless.”
San Buenaventura said her position as chair of Human Services and Homelessness will help with her agenda.
“I think the fact that I’m chair of Human Services and Homeless and my district is at least lower in the economic strata compared to others as for per capita income, that also helped me because I’ve been able to show that we’ve increased Medicaid enrollment as well as Medicaid benefits,” she said. “People have been able to see what I’ve been able to do.”
She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in August.
Sen. Lorraine Inouye will represent District 1, transitioning from her role as state senator for District 4.
Redistricting shifted Inouye into District 1, which represents Hilo.
“I’m pleased to be returning to Senate District 1 and that the voters in this district have given me their support and that they appreciate me returning home to my hometown,” she said. “I really believe it has to do with a returning incumbent and what I have done in my service of doing the people’s work as a Senator on the Big Island.”
Inouye previously served as senator for District 1 from 1998 to 2008 before opting to run as mayor of Hawaii County, a race she lost to Billy Kenoi.
As of Tuesday evening, Inouye, a Democrat, earned 74.9% of the vote for the District 1 Senate seat, beating out Republican challenger Helen Tupai 11,066 to 3,706.
Inouye, 82, graduated from Hilo High and was previously serving as senator for District 4 following her 2014 win.
Inouye will occupy the seat until November 2026.
She beat out challengers Laura Acasio and Wil Okabe in August’s primary election.
“I’m happy that I am going to be returning as the chair of the Water and Land Committee and vice chair of the Committee on Transportation, and I will be returning on the Committee of Ways and Means which is the money committee, and I’m happy I’m able to return to that seat and make sure we have the resources to address the issues of the state and, more important, the issues of Hawaii Island,” she said.
Inouye will also be adding another committee to her full agenda, serving on the Public Safety Committee.
“The Public Safety Committee oversees the prisons and pretty much public safety issues and more importantly, because we have issues relating to our (Hawaii Community Correctional Center) here, I want to make sure that I have a seat on the committee to address the issues that were experiencing with public safety and the overcrowding here in Hilo.”
District 3, which makes up sections of Naalehu, Ocean View and Kailua-Kona, will be represented by Democratic Sen. Dru Kanuha. Because the race was uncontested, he secured his position in August’s primary election.
Kanuha previously defeated Libertarian candidate Mike Last in the 2018 general election, when he won 79.3% of the votes.
District 4, which represents Waimea and Waikoloa, elected Tim Richards, who defeated Republican challenger Nicholas Tancheff 9,695 to 3,332 on Tuesday, earning 74.4% of the votes after initial returns.
Richards previously served as a Hawaii County Council member for District 9 starting in 2015 and served on the Committee on Agriculture, Water and Energy Sustainability.
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.