Happy Birthday Hirono!
It’s good to be a Democratic incumbent in Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District.
Democratic Congresswoman Mazie Hirono bucked the national trend and swept over Republican challenger John Willoughby Tuesday despite his endorsement from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Hirono held 67.9 percent of the vote with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
Her victory reaffirmed the hold Democrats have had on Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional seat since its creation in 1971.
But this election was different. This year, this was the seat where the Tea Party tried to make a mark in Hawaii. Willoughby was the first (and only) of Hawaii’s national-level candidates to receive an endorsement from high-profile Tea Party rock star Sarah Palin.
Hirono, who turns 63 the day after the election, spent more than a million on her campaign. Willoughby spent $14,000, yet he managed to garner more than 23 percent of the district’s votes.
That’s wider than the margin by which Hirono first won the 2nd Congressional seat . She defeated Republican Bob Hogue that year by a 22-point margin, with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
And although the number of candidates doubled with a Libertarian and and Independent on the ballot, Hirono defeated her nearest opponent by a landslide 51-point margin. She received 70 percent of the vote vs. Republican Roger Evans’ 19 percent.
Willoughby, an airline pilot who had never run for office, was left on his own in a race where state and national Republicans saw their opportunities in Hawaii in the governor’s contest and the rematch between Charles Djou and Colleen Hanabusa in the 1st Congressional District.
While Hirono emerged unscathed in a terrible year for Democrats, the election did turn her position in Congress upside down. Across the country, Republican challengers used voter frustrations with Congress to oust Democratic incumbents. In all, the GOP’s projected 65-seat net gain in the House flipped a 255-178 minority into a 243-190 majority.
When she returns to Washington in January for the new Congress, for the first time Hirono will be a member of the minority party.
