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Democratic candidates for the Hawaii Legislature are fielding more than double the number of Republican candidates in the 2012 elections — 121 to 56.

A good many of them are veteran legislators likely to be aided by incumbency.

Barring a seismic electoral shakeup, it seems unlikely that the Democratic Party of Hawaii will cede much control of the Legislature to the Hawaii Republican Party.

The state Senate currently has a 24-1 member lock for the majority while the state House has a 43-8 Democratic majority. House Republicans have already lost Barbara Marumoto to retirement and Kymberly Pine to a Honolulu City Council race.

In fact, the GOP did not find candidates to run in 10 Senate districts and 17 House districts.

However, because of redistricting, some incumbents are pitted against each other, and there are several open seats.

Other veterans, like Rep. Jerry Chang of Hilo, a Democrat, chose not to run again because of redistricting. House Democrat Bob Herkes decided to run for the newly created state Senate seat.

Herkes faces three other Democrats in the primary, including Gary Safarik, a former Hawaii County Councilman.

At a minimum, there will be new faces when the Ledge begins business for the 2013 session in January, with the possibility of a change in key leadership positions.

Senate Races

All 25 incumbent senators want to keep their job. They are:

Democrats Gil Kahele, Josh Green, Malama Solomon, Shan Tsutsui, Roz Baker, Kalani English, Ron Kouchi, Les Ihara, Carol Fukunaga, Brian Taniguchi, Brickwood Galuteria, Suzanne Chun Oakland, Donna Mercado Kim, Glenn Wakai, David Ige, Clarence Nishihara, Michelle Kidani, Will Espero, Mike Gabbard, Maile Shimabukuro, Donovan Dela Cruz, Clayton Hee, Jill Tokuda and Pohai Ryan, and Republican Sam Slom.

But not all will keep their jobs: Fukunaga and Taniguchi, both longtime legislators, face each other because of reapportionment.

Five senators have no challenger, either in the primary or general: Tsutsui, the Senate president from Maui, and Tokuda, Wakai, Chun Oakland and Kim on Oahu. Start pouring the champagne.

Ten other senators face no primary challenge: Green, Baker, Kouchi, Slom, Ihara, Galuteria, Ige, Gabbard, Shimabukuro and Hee. They’re free to kick back until the general election race begins Aug. 12.

Five senators are running against former government officials with name recognition: Kahele against Donald Ikeda on the Big Island, Solomon against Lorraine Inouye, also on the Big Island; Nishihara against Alex Sonson in Central Oahu; Kidani against Michael Magaoay on Oahu; and Ryan against Laura Thielen (whose candidacy may be challenged by Democrats) in primarily Windward Oahu.

Finally, these could be competitive races come November:

• Hee against Colleen Meyer, a former Republican House representative, for the Windward seat;
• Ryan or Thielen against Fred Hemmings, the Republican who used to occupy that Windward seat;
• English who, should he win his primary, will face Kanoho Helm, a strong opponent of Big Wind and the nephew of the late Hawaiian activist George Helm who is running as a nonpartisan candidate for the Maui-Molokai-Lanai seat.

House Races

Forty-six House incumbents want to keep their jobs. They are:

Democrats Mark Nakashima, Clift Tsuji, Faye Hanohano, Denny Coffman, Cindy Evans, Joe Souki, Gil Keith-Agaran, Angus McKelvey, Kyle Yamashita, Mele Carroll, Derek Kawakami, Jimmy Tokioka, Dee Morikawa, Mark Hashem, Calvin Say, Scott Nishimoto, Tom Brower, Isaac Choy, Della Au Belatti, Sylvia Luke, Scott Saiki, John Mizuno, Karl Rhoads, Linda Ichiyama, Heather Giugni, Mark Takai, Roy Takumi, Marilyn Lee, Ryan Yamane, Henry Aquino, Ty Cullen, Rida Cabanilla, Sharon Har, Karen Awana, Jo Jordan, Marcus Oshiro, Pono Chong, Jessica Wooley, Ken Ito and Chris Lee, and Republicans George Fontaine, Gene Ward, Corinne Ching, Aaron Johanson, Gil Riviere and Cynthia Thielen.

Not all of them will.

Chong, the majority leader, and Wooley, a House dissident who opposes Speaker Say’s leadership, were forced into the same district because of redistricting. Same goes for dissident Takai and Giugni, who was appointed to her seat to fill a vacancy. Both races could impact the election of a new speaker.

Two other dissidents thrown into the same district, Nishimoto and Saiki, however, managed to end up running in separate districts that contain parts of their old districts, though each faces primary opponents.

These House incumbents have no competition this year: Tsuji and Evans on the Big Island, Souki on Maui, Kawakami and Tokioka on Kauai and Ward, Luke, Takumi, Aquino and Thielen on Oahu. No need to change the nameplates on the office doors.

These races are competitive:

• District 3 and 6 on the Big Island, which are open;
• District 11 on Maui, which has four Democrats — including former occupant Joey Bertram — aiming to face Fontaine in the general;
• District 34 in Central Oahu, where former TV reporter Gregg Takayama faces another Democrat in the primary;
• District 45 in the Mililani area, which is open;
• District 40 in Ewa Beach, an open seat where Republican Bob McDermott is seeking a comeback and six Democrats are also vying for the seat;
• Awana’s District 43 Waianae-area seat, where three other Democrats are in the hunt along with two Republicans.

Romy Cachola, the term-limited Honolulu City Council member, is seeking Joey Manahan’s District 30 Kaliki Kai, Sand Island, Kapalama seat. (Manahan is running for City Council).

Lastly, Speaker Calvin Say will face the same Democrat challenger as he did two years ago, Dwight Synan. If he wins the primary, he will face the same GOP contender that he defeated two years ago, Julia Allen; nonpartisan Joseph Heaukalani; and — surprise, surprise — Green candidate Keiko Bonk.

Bonk, formerly elected as a Green to the Hawaii County Council, has lived on Oahu for years now. While Say has held on to his Palolo seat for decades, environmental groups and others are gunning to bring him down.