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Updated 8:02 a.m. – Nov. 3 Stanley Chang beat out attorney Rich Turbin in a hotly contested race to represent southeast Oahu on the Honolulu City Council.

Meanwhile, the race to represent northern Oahu is too close to call.

Chang, 27 years old, will be the youngest member of the council. He’ll be sworn in along with Tulsi Tamayo to the three open council seats, joining Ikaika Anderson, Ann Kobayashi, Romy Cachola, Breene Harimoto and Council Chair Todd Apo.

Tuesday’s election represents a veritable changing of the guard at Honolulu Hale. First, there’s the new Mayor Peter Carlisle, who took office on Oct. 12. And in addition to the three new council members and Harimoto, who ran uncontested in the primary, Chair Apo will resign Nov. 8.

For a preview of what you can expect from the new members, Civil Beat reported in August about their opinions on rail, homelessness, infrastructure and trash.

You can also view the responses from each of the candidates to 10 questions Civil Beat asked them prior to the election.

A recap of each district race follows:

District 4

In what was the most hotly contested race on the council, Stanley Chang proved victorious despite lagging behind in the financial race heading into Tuesday. He will represent District 4, which covers the south-eastern tip of Oahu.

Chang won with 17,034 votes, or 48 percent. He will replace Lee Donohue, who temporarily filled Charles Djou‘s former seat.

Chang’s opponent, Rich Turbin, took in 15,217 votes, or about 43 percent.

Prior to the election, the race turned heads for the big money earned during the campaigns.

From Sept. 19 to Oct. 18, the latest reporting period for campaign finances,
Turbin upped the ante by loaning his campaign .

His contributions, including loans, totaled $380,505 — by far the most raised by a single councillor in recent memory.

Before Turbin, former District 4 Councilman Charles Djou raised the most money, taking in about $266,000 in contributions in 2006.

Chang appeared unintimidated by Turbin, though, raising some serious cash in his own right. If you discount loans, he essentially tied Turbin’s contributions.

After the primary, Chang dominated Turbin in fundraising, raking in $73,892, more than twice his opponent’s total. He finished with a of $239,279 for the election.

He rode that momentum to a win.

“We’re just so humbled,” Chang told Civil Beat after the election. “Very, very, very humbled by the support that we got. Now the hard part starts.”

Chang said he’ll focus on infrastructure during his tenure. Specifically, roads, sewers and water mains.

He said that the element that separated himself and Turbin was a grassroots effort. That, and his youth.

“What we really brought to the table was fresh energy, fresh ideas, fresh solutions,” Chang said. “The reason why I kept pushing was from what I heard from the 19,000 doors that I knocked on… They wanted better quality infrastructure, they wanted to help move the economy forward, they wanted us to spend wisely – and we can spend less.”

When Civil Beat asked Chang if he had any plans to celebrate the victory, he replied: “No. We’re just going to keep working hard. There is a lot, lot, lot of work to be done.”

Turbin for could not be reached for comment.

District 2

Update After the fourth printout early Wednesday, the race to fill Donovan Dela Cruz‘s old seat was too close to call. Ernie Martin leads by a slim 48 votes to represent the bulk of northern Oahu. After the fourth printout, Martin was ahead with 11,056 votes, or 42.5 percent. His opponent, John White trailed with 11,008 votes or 42.3 percent.

White, who won the primary, raised significantly more money than Martin. In the last , between Sept. 19 and Oct. 18, he raised $37,500, adding to his total of $229,951.

Martin only raised $26,180 during the last reporting period and a total of $105,145. Together, the two candidates totaled a third of a million dollars, $335,096.

Martin almost doubled his votes from the primary, receiving 4,447 more votes than his September tally of 5,728.

He is a supporter of rail and says that to, “Reduce, reuse, and recycle are the three most important strategies to addressing our solid waste issues.”

District 6

For the District 6 race, which covers what is essentially downtown Honolulu, Tulsi Tamayo won with 13,752 votes, or 50 percent. She will replace former mayoral candidate Rod Tam on the council.

Tamayo beat Sesnita Moepono, who received 9,595 votes, or 34.9 percent.

Financially speaking, Tamayo didn’t always lead in the election but she put in a strong effort in the final weeks of her campaign. She raised a total of $106,501, with $28,079 coming in the .

Moepono raised a total of $63,575 during the election.

Tamayo beat 9 opponents in total: Frank Lavoie, Shawn Hamamoto, Bob Viera, Chris Wong, Dennis Nakasato, Carlton Middleton, Larry Fenton and Tim Garry all fell to her in the primary.

District 8

Breene Harimoto, who ran uncontested in the primary election, will also be sworn in to represent District 8 on the nonpartisan council. Harimoto replaces Gary Okino.

District 1

Apo, who represents District 1, or southwest Oahu, announced at the end of August that he would resign Nov. 8 to take a job as Disney’s director of public affairs for Hawaii.

A special election will be set to replace him. With his absence, the majority of the council, five members, will be learning the ropes from the four veterans.

The new council members will be paid $52,446 per year, with the chair getting $58,596.