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With the boost in Democratic registration, the party expects to strengthen its dominance of state politics
Change might be the touchstone of the fall campaigns across the mainland, but in Hawaii the status quo has already won the primary elections.
Democrats were unopposed in 20 state House races, and two state Senate races had no Republican opponents. Three more Senate contests have only Democratic candidates.
Out of the 76 legislative seats, 63 are up for election this year, and because of no GOP opposition, Democrats are guaranteed to win 25.
Hawaii’s Democrats now control 21 out of the 25 Senate seats and 44 out of the 51 House slots, so they are already assured a supermajority coming out of the Sept. 20 election.
The notable exception to all this overt partisanship is the primary election’s highlight race — that for Honolulu mayor, which is a nonpartisan seat. Among the challengers to incumbent Mufi Hannemann, a rail transit advocate, is Honolulu City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi and anti-rail candidate Panos Prevedouros.
All county-level seats are designated as nonpartisan, that is, not supporting a political party. If a candidate in a nonpartisan race gets 50 percent of the vote plus one, the candidate wins the election outright and does not have to advance to the November general election.
If no candidate reaches that margin, the two candidates with highest vote total are in a runoff, held with the general election.
The candidates for mayor in Honolulu and on Kauai and the Big Island are all looking for a primary election win.
Democratic officials, meanwhile, are looking at the big numbers of new Democrats who joined because of the party’s spirited caucus in February.
Brian Schatz, the new party chairman, says the party’s membership is now at 57,000. He figures that could translate into up to 1,200 registered Democrats in each House district, compared with the pre-caucus number of 300 or 400.
“If we get those people out to vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, we think we can be successful,” Schatz said.
The GOP is expecting a bit of primary excitement, although only three of the Republican primaries have more than one candidate.
Willes Lee, the GOP chairman, says he is urging all the candidates to take advantage of the primary, even if they do not have a race against another Republican, to raise local interest in their campaign.
“We see the local campaigns as a boost to other local races,” Lee said.
Some candidates are expected to start their usual get-out-the-vote campaign during the primary season, Lee added.
One group that is already assured of election victories are the candidates for county prosecutor.
Two incumbents will win re-election: Honolulu’s Peter Carlisle and the Big Island’s Jay Kimura, who have no opposition.
Kauai County Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho is running unopposed for prosecutor of Kauai County and will win in the primary.
