Hundreds of candidates have filed to run in the August primary. We’ll update with info about them throughout the summer.
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.
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.
D = Democrat, R = Republican, L = Libertarian, G = Green Party, C = Constitution, N = Nonpartisan
* = incumbent
U.S. Senate
Mazie Hirono (D) *
George Berish (R)
Ronald Curtis (R)
Rocky De La Fuente (R)
Michael Hodgkiss (R)
Edward Pirkowski (R)
Thomas White (R)
Charles Haverty (N)
Matthew Maertens (N)
Arturo Reyes (N)
Ed Case (D)
Doug Chin (D)
Beth Fukumoto (D)
Kaniela Ing (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)
Tulsi Gabbard (D) *
Brian Evans (R)
Governor
Ernest Caravalho (D)
Colleen Hanabusa (D)
David Ige (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
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) *
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)
State House
District 1
Mark Nakashima (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)
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) *
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)
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)
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)
District 2
District 4
District 6
District 8 (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)
Hawaii County Council
District 1
Valerie Poindexter *
Abraham Sadegh
District 2
Aaron Chung *
William Halversen
District 3
Susan Lee Loy *
District 4
District 5
Jennifer Ruggles * (Withdrew)
District 6
Richard Abbett
Yumi Kawano
District 7
Cynthia Nazara
District 8
District 9
Maui Mayor
Don Guzman
Alec Hawley
Michael Victorino
Maui County Council
East Maui (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)
West Maui
Ernest Balinbin
Frederick Nava
Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)
Alika Atay *
Kahalui
Alan Arakawa
Debra Kaiwi
South Maui (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)
Zandra Krause
Makawao-Haiku-Paia
Adam Borowiec
Trinette Furtado
Upcountry (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)
Lanai (not on primary ballot, both advance to general election)
Molokai
Cora Caparida-Schnackenberg
Kauai Mayor
Ana Mo Des
Derek Kawakami
Leonard Rapozo
Clint Yago
Kauai County Council
Heather Ahuna
Juno Ann Apalla
Mason Chock \•
Theodore Daligdig
Bill DeCosta
Victoria Franks
Richard Fukushima
Cecilia Hoffman
Ross Kagawa *
Arryl Kaneshiro *
Nelson Mukai
Wally Nishimura
Roy Saito
Shirley Simbre-Medeiros
Harold Vidinha
Maui
Carmen Lindsey *
Oahu
Paul Mossman
At-Large
Rowena Akana *
Alvin Akina
Charles Kaui Jochanan Amsterdam
Faye Hanohano
Kalai Paaluhi
Kali Puuoahu
Stay Up To Date On The Coronavirus And Other Hawaii Issues
States Hold Immense Powers To Handle Public Health