Maui County Council member Yuki Lei Sugimura was trailing Mayor Richard Bissen by 10 percentage points in the nonpartisan primary race to be the county’s next chief executive, according to election results released Saturday evening.

They were far outpacing the eight other candidates with most of the votes counted, and will move on to face each other in the November general election. 

Bissen, 64, was leading with 45.9% of the vote, and Sugimura, 72, had 34.7%, according to preliminary results.

Heading into the primary election, Bissen and his team had been cautiously optimistic that the results would be in his favor, but so far, they have exceeded expectations. He told Civil Beat Saturday evening that he was “happily surprised” when he received a phone call from a campaign staff member sharing the initial results.

“You always think you can canvas more, you can sign wave more,” Bissen said. “But you put all the work in, and today is like the final exam… I think of all that right now, and I think it was all worth it.”

Sitting on a couch in Akakū Maui Community Media’s lobby after results started to come in, Sugimura said she had been prepared to see the results, no matter the outcome. “I’ve always said this was a David and Goliath race, and I’m the underdog,” she told Civil Beat. “I’m really grateful to move forward.”

It is usually difficult for a challenger to pose a serious threat to an incumbent, but it happened four years ago when Bissen, a former judge, ousted then-Mayor Mike Victorino. 

Political observers have said the Maui mayoral race is one of the most consequential and closely watched elections in the state, with voters being asked to decide who they want to lead the county as it navigates the ongoing recovery efforts following the deadly 2023 wildfires, a dire housing shortage and how to manage the island’s water resources. 

Though she had far fewer votes than Sugimura and Bissen, P. Denise La Costa, who self-funded most of her campaign, was ahead of the other candidates, with 10.9% of the votes. The others were all 2% or under, including Justin Herrmann, John Dunbar, Travis Liggett, Amy Petterson, Joseph Moses, Callahan Welsh and Laurent Zahnd.

Results have also come in for several council elections being decided by Maui voters. 

With 40.1% of the vote, well-known Native Hawaiian kalo farmer Bobby Pahia had pulled well ahead in the race to represent Upcountry on the Maui County Council, a position that Sugimura has held since 2016. Business owner Jon Yokouchi was in second with 19.3% of the vote, and will face Pahia in November. Hana tour bus driver Derrick Cabiles was in third place with 15.13% of the vote, followed by real estate agent John Guard at 8.9%.

A couple dozen of Pahia’s supporters —including Maui County Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, House District 14 Green Party candidate Paele Kiakona and others associated with locally led groups like Lahaina Strong and Lahaina Community Land Trust — gathered at Wow-Wee Maui’s Kava Bar and Grill to watch the results come in.

Outside the restaurant, which is only a few hundred feet away from Akakū, Pahia told Civil Beat he was feeling great and immensely thankful to his campaign team. He said he spent the day sign waving and fixing a major water break on his farm.

“It’s busy,” he said, but enjoyed talking to people and meeting supporters.

Marvin Moniz, the longtime airports manager for the state Department of Transportation, was way out front in the race to represent Central Maui with 34.5% of the vote. Ashley Awakea Lindsey was second with 18.7%, so is on track to face Moniz in November. James Forrest was in third with 14.3% of the vote, followed by arborist and pastor Randy Konohia with 11.9% and progressive community advocate Alan Lloyd with 4.7%. The seat was left open when current Council Chair Alice Lee announced her plans to retire at the end of her term and through her support behind Moniz. 

Council member Kauanoe Batangan — who was appointed to fill the Kahului seat after the death of former council member Tasha Kama —  was at the top with 42.2% of the vote. He will face Carol Lee Kamekona, who lost to Kama by 9 percentage points in 2024, and had 32.4% of the votes in Saturday’s primary. Jason Ababan, the third candidate in the race, had 6.8%. 

Only three of the nine council seats up for election this year appeared on the primary ballot because the other six all had two or fewer candidates, automatically advancing to the general election or winning uncontested.

Political action committees and other donors have invested big money in some of this year’s Maui County Council races. The election results could redefine the longstanding power dynamic, according to political analysts. Sugimura and Lee are both members of the council’s more conservative voting majority — which also includes Batangan, Nohelani U‘u-Hodgins and Tom Cook, who is facing a rematch against Kelly King — so with their seats open and at least two other races expected to be competitive, progressives could reclaim control.

In her bid to become Maui’s next mayor, Sugimura raised more money than nearly every other candidate in the state, hauling in more than $335,000, including $20,000 from her husband. 

That surpassed the nearly $293,000 raised by Bissen, though the current mayor also received more campaign contributions than most other candidates in Hawai’i, according to the candidate’s most recent campaign finance reports filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission. Sugimura also outspent Bissen, using up nearly $308,000 so far this election, compared to the roughly $238,000 spent by Bissen.

PACs and super PACs have spent nearly $350,000 supporting Sugimura’s campaign, far more than any other local candidate in the state. Bissen has received less than $100,000 from PACs and super PACs. 

In Maui, the mayor is elected to serve a four-year term as the county’s chief executive, with responsibilities that include choosing who will lead county departments and running the government on a day-to-day basis. The council controls the county’s financial decisions, determines policy direction and votes on county laws.

Mayoral Race

At Sugimura’s campaign headquarters in Kahului on Saturday evening, dozens of her supporters and campaign staff members gathered around folding tables topped with plastic purple and gold table cloths. They made small talk and filled paper plates from a buffet including pizza, pork, fruit, fried chicken, wontons and dessert. The room was decorated with purple and gold signs, string lights, tinsel, balloons, lanterns, and each table was topped with bouquets of yellow sunflowers, daisies and baby’s breath.

As the polls were scheduled to close around 7 p.m., Sugimura addressed the crowd wearing a long black skirt, hot pink blazer and many lei. From a small stage in the corner of the room, she thanked everyone for supporting her, and asked everyone to celebrate when the results started coming in— regardless of outcome.

“Every vote matters,” she said.

Bissen paused campaign activities for the majority of election day, which happened to fall on the three-year anniversary of the devastating 2023 Maui wildfires. Bissen spent the day participating in community gatherings and remembrance activities, according to a statement released by his campaign team.

“While this year August 8 also falls on Primary Election Day, there is a time for campaigning and a time to simply be together,” Bissen said in a statement. “My place that day is alongside our community, reflecting on the lives we lost and the strength and aloha that have carried Maui Nui through these past three years.”

Bissen’s time in office has largely been defined by his administration’s response since the catastrophic wildfires that devastated Lahaina and Kula in August 2023, just months after he was sworn in as mayor. He has overseen much of the ongoing multibillion-dollar recovery effort, which is expected to take several more years to complete. As of Wednesday, nearly 600 homes have been rebuilt and another 400 were under construction, and the county had issued or was processing permits for more than 1,200 additional units, according to county data. 

Bissen’s handling of recovery efforts has been polarizing. Some people have voiced their appreciation for his decision to prioritize rebuilding homes before businesses. Others have consistently argued that the recovery process has been too slow, particularly in Lahaina’s commercial district.

Perhaps none of Bissen’s policies have divided the community more than Bill 9, his plan to phase out thousands of the island’s short-term vacation rentals. He introduced the legislation in May 2024 as part of an effort to free up housing for residents displaced by the 2023 fires, and it was approved by the council late last year and signed into law. Sugimura — who had been among the council’s most vocal critics of Bill 9 — was one of three dissenting votes.

The legislation is one of the key issues differentiating the two candidates, both of whom have been critical to the county’s decision-making process in recent years.