Hawaii is the only state that holds its statewide primary election on a Saturday. This year, the primary is Aug. 11.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., but Hawaii also has a robust mail-in voting process. In 2014, the last time we voted for governor, 56 percent of voters dropped their ballots in the mail in the weeks before Election Day. Early voting has become such a factor that candidates time their campaigns to take advantage of it.

VOTE

One U.S. Senate seat in Hawaii and both of our U.S. House seats will be on the Aug. 11 primary ballot.

All 51 House seats are up for election along with 13 of the 25 state Senate seats.

So are four of nine Honolulu City Council seats, and county council seats in Maui County, Kauai County and Hawaii County. Voters also will be electing new mayors for Maui and Kauai.

Five of the nine seats on the board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs will also be on the ballot — three at-large seats, one representing Oahu and one for Maui.

Candidates who win their primaries and have no general election opponent are deemed to have won the office. In Hawaii, many statewide and legislative races are effectively decided in the primary because of the overwhelming dominance of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. So whichever Democrat wins the primary often goes on to prevail in the general election.

Hawaii allows candidates to run as independents if they choose not to join a political party. But nonpartisan candidates rarely progress past the primary election because state law requires them to get at least 10 percent of the total votes cast in the primary or as many votes as the winning partisan candidate who got the least number of votes.

County-level races as well as the contest for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are nonpartisan. Candidates are not designated as Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens or any other affiliation. Some county races with only two candidates won’t appear on the primary ballot but will be on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Below is a list of the candidates who have filed their paperwork to run for office in the primary. The filing deadline for both the Aug. 11 primary and the Nov. 6 general election was June 5.

Some candidates have been active for months, including raising money from contributors. You can study campaign finance reports for each candidate at the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission website.

Voters don’t have much time to check on where candidates are getting their money, especially with the popularity of early voting in which people can begin turning in their ballots about a month before the election.

Civil Beat has been analyzing the campaign cash flowing to candidates, looking at candidates as well as contributors, including political action committees. You can find those stories in our ongoing report, Cashing In.

We also review campaign ads — on TV, the internet, radio — and provide insight into what the candidates are trying to achieve as well as pointing out any questionable factual assertions. That’s a series we call Ad Watch.

Check back frequently. We’ll also be including links to information on candidates and where they stand on important issues. We’ve sent out candidate questionnaires for congressional, statewide and legislative races, as well as for the county mayor and council races. We’ll link to those from this page as they come in.

For more information, visit the Hawaii Office of Elections website.

The Ballot (Unofficial)

D = Democrat, R = Republican, L = Libertarian, G = Green Party, C = Constitution, N = Nonpartisan

* = incumbent

U.S. Senate

Mazie Hirono (D) *

Consuelo Anderson (R)

George Berish (R)

Ronald Curtis (R)

Rocky De La Fuente (R)

Robert Helsham Sr. (R)

Michael Hodgkiss (R)

Edward Pirkowski (R)

Thomas White (R)

Charles Haverty (N)

Matthew Maertens (N)

Arturo Reyes (N)

 

Congressional District 1

Ed Case (D)

Doug Chin (D)

Beth Fukumoto (D)

Kaniela Ing (D)

Donna Mercado Kim (D)

Ernie Martin (D)

Sam Puletasi (D)

Cam Cavasso (R)

Emmanuel Tipon (R)

Raymond Vinole (R)

Michelle Tippens (L)

Zachary Burd (G)

John Cipolla (N)

Calvin Griffin (N)

 

Congressional District 2

Anthony Tony Austin (D)

Sherry Alu Campagna (D)

Tulsi Gabbard (D) *

Brian Evans (R)

 

Governor

Ernest Caravalho (D)

Colleen Hanabusa (D)

David Ige (D) *

Wendell Ka’ehu’ae’a (D)

Richard Kim (D)

Van Tanabe (D)

John Carroll (R)

Ray L’Heureux (R)

Andria Tupola (R)

Jim Brewer (G)

Selina Blackwell (N)

Eric Link (N)

Terrence Teruya (N)

 

Lieutenant Governor

Bernard Carvalho Jr. (D)

Will Espero (D)

Josh Green (D)

Kim Coco Iwamoto (D)

Jill Tokuda (D)

Marissa Kerns (R)

Steven Lipscomb (R)

Jeremy Low (R)

Renee Ing (G)

Ernest Magaoay (N)

Paul Robotti (N)

 

State Senate

District 1

Kai Kahele (D) *

Kimberly Arianoff (L)

District 3

Brenda Ford (D)

Dru Kanuha (D)

Michael Last (L)

District 4

Lorraine Inouye (D) *

Heather Kimball (D)

District 6

Terez Amato (D)

Rosalyn Baker (D) *

Melissah Shishido (G)

District 7

J. Kalani English (D) *

Ann Haliniak-Lloyd (D)

Michael Tengan (D)

District 12

Brickwood Galuteria (D) *

Sharon Moriwaki (D)

Lynn Mariano (R)

District 16

Breene Harimoto (D) *

District 17

Clarence Nishihara (D) *

Roger Clemente (R)

District 18

Michelle Kidani (D) *

Anthony Solis (R)

Emil Svrcina (R)

District 19

Veronica Duzon (D)

Matt LoPresti (D)

Alicia Maluafiti (D)

Kurt Fevella (R)

District 21

Tim Riley (D)

Maile Shimabukuro (D) *

Diamond Garcia (R)

District 23

Clayton Hee (D)

Gil Riviere (D) *

District 24

Ken Ito (D)

Jarrett Keohokalole (D)

 

State House

District 1

Mark Nakashima (D) *

Koohan Paik-Mander (D)

District 2

Terri Napeahi (D)

Chris Todd (D) *

Bryan Feste (R)

Jocelyn Manipol-Larson (R)

District 3

Richard Onishi (D) *

Raina Whiting (D)

Frederick Fogel (L)

District 4

Joy San Buenaventura (D) *

District 5

Richard Creagan (D) *

Jeanne Kapela (D)

Gene Leslie (D)

District 6

Nicole Lowen (D) *

District 7

Cindy Evans (D) *

David Tarnas (D)

Thomas Belekanich (R)

District 8

Troy Hashimoto (D) *

Justin Hughey (D)

Dain Kane (D)

Mary Wagner (D)

District 9

Kelson Batagnan (D)

Justin Woodson (D) *

Andrew Kayes (N)

District 10

Angus McKelvey (D) *

Chayne Marten (R)

Jennifer Mather (G)

District 11

Don Couch (D)

Lee Myrick D)

Tina Wildberger (D)

Daniel Kanahele (N)

District 12

Tiare Lawrence (D)

Kyle Yamashita (D) *

District 13

Lynn DeCoite (D) *

John-Bull English (D)

Nick Nikhilananda (G)

District 14

Nadine Nakamura (D) *

District 15

Elaine Daligdig (D)

James Tokioka (D) *

District 16

Stephanie Iona (D)

Dee Morikawa (D) *

District 17

Gene Ward (R) *

Alan Yim (L)

District 18

Mark Hashem (D) *

Ronette Souza (R)

District 19

Bert Kobayashi (D) *

District 20

Calvin Say (D) *

Julia Allen (R)

Brendan Hand (R)

District 21

Scott Nishimoto (D) *

District 22

Tom Brower (D) *

Kathryn Henski (R)

District 23

Dylan Armstrong (D)

Elton Fukumoto (D)

Andrew Garrett (D)

Dale Kobayashi (D)

Benton Rodden (D)

District 24

Della Au Belatti (D) *

District 25

Sylvia Luke (D) *

District 26

Scott Saiki (D) *

District 27

Takashi Ohno (D) *

Mela Lindsey-Kealoha (R)

District 28

John Mizuno (D) *

District 29

Dan Holt (D) *

James Logue (D)

District 30

Romy Cachola (D) *

Ernesto Ganaden (D)

Mar Velasco (R)

District 31

Aaron Ling Johanson (D) *

District 32

Linda Ichiyama Chong (D) *

District 33

Tracy Arakaki (D)

Sam Kong (D) *

David Matsushita (D)

District 34

Gregg Takayama (D) *

District 35

Roy Takumi (D) *

District 36

Zuri Aki (D)

Dean Hazama (D)

Trish La Chica (D)

Marilyn Lee (D)

Val Okimoto (R)

District 37

Ryan Yamane (D) *

Mary Smart (R)

District 38

Henry Aquino (D) *

District 39

Ty Cullen (D) *

District 40

Rosebella Ellazar-Martinez (D)

Patrocinio Bolo (N)

Bob McDermott (R) *

District 41

Rida Cabanilla (D)

Lynn Robinson-Onderko (D)

Christopher Fidelibus (R)

District 42

Sharon Har (D) *

Jake Schafer (D)

District 43

Stacelynn Eli (D)

Michael Juarez (D)

Sailau Timoteo (R)

Angela Kaaihue (N)

District 44

Cedric Gates (D) *

Jo Jordan (D)

District 45

Lauren Matsumoto (R) *

District 46

Lester Fung (D)

Lei Learmont (D) *

Amy Perruso (D)

John Miller (R)

District 47

Sean Quinlan (D) *

Richard Fale (R)

Boyd Ready (R)

District 48

Kika Bukoski (D)

Randy Gonce (D)

Lisa Kitagawa (D)

Jessica Wooley (D)

District 49

Shannon Dalire (D)

Natalia Hussey-Burdick (D)

Scot Matayoshi (D)

Mo Radke (D)

Adriel Lam (N)

District 50

Cynthia Thielen (R) *

Micah Pregitzer (D)

Miles Shiratori (D)

District 51

Chris Lee (D) *

Johnene Galea’i (R)

Coby Chock (N)

 

Honolulu City Council

District 2

Robert Bunda

Dave Burlew

Choon James

Heidi Tsuneyoshi

District 4

Natalie Iwasa

Ricky Marumoto

Trevor Ozawa *

Tommy Waters

District 6

Tyler Dos Santos-Tam

Carol Fukunaga *

Ikaika Hussey

Zachary Stoddard

District 8 (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)

Brandon Elefante *

Kelly Kitashima

 

Hawaii County Council

District 1

Valerie Poindexter *

Abraham Sadegh

District 2

Aaron Chung *

William Halversen

District 3

Susan Lee Loy *

District 4

Ashley Kierkiewicz

Eileen Ohara *

District 5

Matthew Kanealii-Kleinfelder

Jennifer Ruggles * (Withdrew)

Frederic (Ric) Wirick

District 6

Richard Abbett

Maile David *

Yumi Kawano

District 7

Kelly Drysdale

Bronsten Kossow

Cynthia Nazara

Rebecca Villegas

District 8

Karen Eoff *

District 9

Tim Richards *

Maya Parish

 

Maui Mayor

Elle Cochran

Don Guzman

Beau Hawkes

Alec Hawley

Ori Kopelman

Michael Victorino

Laurent Zahnd

 

Maui County Council

East Maui (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)

Claire Kamalu Carroll

Shane Sinenci

West Maui

Ernest Balinbin

Frederick Nava

Tamara Paltin

Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)

Alika Atay  *

Alice Lee

Kahalui

Alan Arakawa

Debra Kaiwi

Tasha Kama

South Maui (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)

Zandra Krause

Kelly King *

Makawao-Haiku-Paia

Adam Borowiec

Trinette Furtado

Mike Molina

Upcountry (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)

Hannibal Starbuck

Yuki Sugimura *

Lanai (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)

Riki Hokama  *

Gabe Johnson

Molokai

Cora Caparida-Schnackenberg

Stacy Crivello *

Keani Rawlins-Fernandez

 

Kauai Mayor

Ana Mo Des

Derek Kawakami

Debra Kekaualua

Leonard Rapozo

Mel Rapozo

Clint Yago

JoAnn Yukimura

 

Kauai County Council

 

Dom Acain

Heather Ahuna

Juno Ann Apalla

Arthur Brun *

Mason Chock \•

Felicia Cowden

Theodore Daligdig

Bill DeCosta

Norma Doctor Sparks

Luke Evslin

Victoria Franks

Richard Fukushima

Cecilia Hoffman

Shaylene Iseri

Ross Kagawa *

Arryl Kaneshiro *

Kipukai Kualii

Nelson Mukai

Wally Nishimura

Adam Roversi

Roy Saito

Shirley Simbre-Medeiros

Milo Spindt

Harold Vidinha

 

Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Maui

Ke’eaumoku Kapu

Carmen Lindsey *

Oahu

Kalei Akaka

Jackie Burke

Leona Kalima

Esther Kiaaina

Sam King

Paul Mossman

Francine Murray

At-Large

Lei Ahu Isa *

William Aila Jr.

Rowena Akana *

Alvin Akina

Charles Kaui Jochanan Amsterdam

Faye Hanohano

Brendon Lee

Kealii Makekau

Kalai Paaluhi

Landen Paikai

Makana Paris

Kali Puuoahu

Pohai Ryan

John Waihee IV *

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