It’s a busy local election season and there’s a lot to report. Here’s a few political tidbits that surfaced this past week, and a glance at what’s to come:

• The Honolulu Board of Realtors is holding a 1st Congressional District candidate forum Monday at 11:30 a.m. at the Hawaii Convention Center. Six of the seven Democrats will be there, as will GOP candidate Charles Djou. No Donna Mercado Kim, though, still playing hard to get. Olelo Community Media will cover it.
• All seven Democrats, however, are expected to be part of KITV CD1 debate Wednesday evening. This will probably be the last time for viewers statewide to see the Magnificent Seven altogether.
• The Daily Kos elections blog expressed surprise that EMILY’s List endorsed Kim for Congress “despite the fact that she notoriously voted against legalizing same-sex marriage last year even as it passed the legislature by wide margins. And in a 2012 survey seeking the endorsement of the conservative Hawaii Family Forum, Kim said she was ‘undecided’ on whether she would ‘vote to include a conscience exemption in laws requiring all Hawaii hospitals to provide abortifacient medication to sex assault victims.'”
• Another CD1 hopeful, Stanley Chang, has received the support of People For the American Way, “a national organization dedicated to fighting for progressive policy and supporting the next generation of leaders.”
• CD1 hopeful Will Espero said that, if elected to Congress, he will introduce legislation similar to Senate Bill 2590, which would have banned law enforcement officers from carrying a firearm if they had been drinking alcohol. (The measure failed to advance.) The idea for a federal bill comes in response to the Christopher Deedy trial, involving a federal agent accused of killing Kollin Elderts at a Waikiki McDonald’s.
• Here is yet-another-national article on how ethnicity is playing a role in the U.S. Senate race between Brian Schatz and Colleen Hanabusa. The National Journal story begins, “The first image many Hawaii voters saw from Brian Schatz this election year was of his Chinese father-in-law, sitting at the kitchen table, helping the senator’s half-Chinese daughter make dumplings.”
• Campaign sightings: Schatz sign-waving at the Capitol with the HGEA, and Hanabusa at the Koloa Jodo Bon Dance on Kauai.
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii has released a list of candidates it is supporting in Hawaii’s 2014 primary election. The candidates include Michael Golojuch Jr., running in House District 42. Golojuch is the GLBT Caucus chair.
• David Ige was expected to headline a talk story session at the Maui Beach Hotel last night, while Neil Abercrombie was expected to headline a breakfast at Manoa Elementary School this morning. Both candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial primary are scheduled at a forum in Waimea on the Big Island Wednesday.
• Abercrombie held a campaign fundraiser Wednesday in Kailua, his fifth this month and his 20th of the year. The suggested donation was $500.
• The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District 50 is backing Shan Tsutsui in the race for lieutenant governor.
• A group of Maui Lani residents has hired a law firm “to challenge the legality of the state’s proposed Central Maui sports complex that they and their attorneys say has failed to meet various state and county plans as well as rules and requirements.” A cease-and-desist document was sent to state and county officials including Tsutsui, “whom residents name as a ‘key proponent’ of the project.”
• Duke Aiona, a Republican candidate for governor, this week released a “streamlined plan” to address the affordable housing emergency in Hawaii. “My plan reduces the affordable housing shortfall by 91 percent within seven years without raising taxes on any of Hawaii’s residents or businesses,” said Aiona.
• Aiona was scheduled to attend a pastors luncheon yesterday at Kings Cathedral Church in Niu Valley. He was a featured speaker along with Garret Hashimoto of the Hawaii Christian Coalition.
• The Republican Governors Association plans to spend $100 million in the final 100 days before the November elections, and it includes Hawaii’s race for governor. The RGA thinks Abercrombie — should he defeat Ige — will be vulnerable in a three-way contest against Aiona and independent candidate Mufi Hannemann.
• The Republican National Committee is launching “a new messaging campaign to highlight what it considers the GOP’s favorable political landscape, as the party tries to expand the campaign map,” according to CNN. It includes putting additional staff in blue Hawaii where, “thanks to a divisive Democratic gubernatorial primary in Hawaii, the party committee thinks that seat may now be in play.”
• Kimo Sutton, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, wishes there were more televised debates for his race. Sutton debated his opponent, Elwin Ahu, on PBS Hawaii’s “Insights” Thursday. Tsutsui recently declined an appearance on PBS with fellow Democratic opponents Clayton Hee and Mary Zanakis, so Hee canceled and the forum was called off.
• Just two candidates are receiving public funds from the Campaign Spending Commission. They are Rose Martinez, a House District 40 candidate ($2,160), and Felicia Cowden, a Kauai County Council candidate ($3,744).

A screen shot from a Honolulu Board of Realtors candidate forum, set for Monday, July 21.

Honolulu Board of Realtors