The Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi has pulled the name of one of its three candidates to fill a state House vacancy representing Waipahu.

Lynn Robinson-Onderko, the Oʻahu County chair, decided that Inam Rahman should not be on the list that was sent to Gov. Josh Green on Monday for his consideration for District 36. The reason, she said, is that a party member alerted her that Rahman and his wife had been named in Hawaiʻi court documents regarding domestic abuse allegations.

Rahman challenged the decision, saying the party did not give him the opportunity to discuss the matter. His attorney has asked Hawaiʻi Democratic Party Chair Derek Turbin to share party communications about Rahman’s nomination, and that the party reconsider its decision.

“After reviewing the relevant facts and circumstances, it is extremely troubling that basing any nomination decision on the past existence of mutual temporary restraining orders that no longer exist would be inappropriate and inconsistent with principles of fairness and due process,” attorney Gary Levitt wrote Turbin in an email Sunday, according to correspondence provided to Civil Beat by Rahman.

“Both parties’ TROs were withdrawn by court order, no findings of abuse and/or any other wrongful actions were made against Dr. Rahman, and there is no active restraining order, criminal charge, or conviction,” Levitt wrote.

Turbin and Robinson-Onderko said Tuesday they stand by the decision to remove Rahman’s name and defended the party’s process for selecting applicants.

But Rahman said he has been treated unfairly. He was under official consideration for the House seat as late as Saturday morning along with two others, Daisy Hartsfield (an attorney and social justice advocate) and Maurice Morita (a former public schoolteacher).

On Monday, however, the names of Hartsfield and Morita were forwarded to Green along with that of Clarence Nishihara, a former state senator who represented Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City, Manana and Pacific Palisades for 18 years before retiring in 2022.

“If this is true, that they have submitted three names, then they have made a very big mistake,” Rahman said after Civil Beat informed him that Nishihara had replaced him on the candidates’ list.

“I should be given a due process to explain,” Rahman said. “You know, this is an important decision, an important position, and I have worked very hard, and this thing never came up when I was nominated for the Senate.”

Rahman, a Waipahu doctor, was an applicant in October to fill the seat of Henry Aquino, who resigned his Senate District 19 seat at the end of November. Rahman did not make the short list ultimately submitted to Green, who on Dec. 3 picked Rep. Rachele Lamosao.

That opened a vacancy for House District 36 that Rahman also sought. He, Hartsfield, Sean Michael Monte (an environmental advocate) and Justin Cadiz (a civil engineer and community volunteer) were deemed qualified applicants by the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi in a Dec. 17 press release.

But Cadiz, who is married to Lamosao, withdrew from consideration two days later, Monte was dropped from the list and Morita’s name was added. No reason was given for the last-minute changes.

That was Friday. A Zoom Webinar call was held Saturday morning, where party officials cast votes for their preferred candidates. Hartsfield received five votes, Morita one and Rahman zero, according to Robinson-Onderko.

Robinson-Onderko said she found out about Rahman’s domestic issues only after the vote, even though emails from the party member citing the court documents were circulated Friday evening.

“It came to my attention after the meeting, and then I got up to speed on the court docs,” she said. “Once I had more information, I thought that it was concerning enough that he should not be included as a nominee.”

Party rules and bylaws allowed Robinson-Onderko to reject Rahman and add the name of Nishihara, according to party officials.

“I think at the end of the day, we got three good qualified candidates over to the governor, so I trust the process,” Turbin said Tuesday. “Lynn exercised her rights under our bylaws, and I support her in the decision she made.”

Nishihara did not return a call from Civil Beat on Tuesday.

Green has until Feb. 18 to make his selection. The Legislature begins its 2026 session Jan. 21.

A Broken Marriage

Rahman’s wife, Meranie Rahman, filed for divorce in 2023. They’ve both accused the other of domestic assault in applications for restraining orders. Neither have been criminally charged for their alleged conduct, according to a search of court records.

Inam Rahman has accused Meranie Rahman in court documents of slapping him, threatening him with a knife and once coming to his clinic and threatening his employees. She accused Inam in court of threatening to hit her and said he had sexually assaulted her.

In 2024, a state judge issued one-year protective orders against both of them. They both denied the abuse allegations, according to court minutes.

Rahman said he and his wife are in the process of divorcing. He wants to know if the party had reviewed all of the court proceedings of their dispute.

In his letter to Turbin, Levitt’s attorney wrote, “Decisions of this significance should be grounded in verified facts, current legal standing, and established party rules, not on mutual allegations that were never adjudicated and have no continuing legal effect. It should be noted that Dr. Rahman has full legal and physical joint custody of his minor child in question.”

Levitt, who did not respond to an interview request inquiry Tuesday, said using “a withdrawn, mutual TRO arising from a marital dispute and child custody matter in an on-going divorce as grounds to question or impede a nomination may be perceived as discriminatory and risks setting an improper precedent.”

Turbin declined to comment on the letter, except to say, “I’ll be responding to Dr. Rahman’s attorney, and I’ll handle the response on behalf of the party.”

He and Robinson-Onderko also defended the party’s process for selecting legislative replacements.

“That process was followed to the letter, and it’s very, very important to me to follow that process to the letter,” said Robinson-Onderko. “And I do believe that it’s a solid process. It has been reviewed.”

Both the House and Senate seats will be on the Aug. 8 primary ballot. Candidate filing begins Feb. 2 and runs through June 2.

Civil Beat reporter Blaze Lovell contributed to this report.