Sam Slom, the Hawaii Senate’s Dot of Red in a Sea of Blue
The state’s only Republican senator jokes about how he can “caucus with myself,” but he has serious views on making the GOP relevant here.
Outnumbered by Democrats 24-1, Sen. Sam Slom can’t even make a motion on the state Senate floor without a Democrat’s help; otherwise it will die for lack of a second.
Representing Senate District 9 in east Honolulu, he’s been the chamber’s lone Republican since 2010 and is good-natured about constituting the Senate’s entire GOP caucus. But he gets serious when talking about how his party could gain a stronger toehold in the islands — and it’s not by becoming more moderate.
Civil Beat’s Eric Pape caught up with Slom recently at the Capitol as he played host to some third-graders and then sat down in his office to talk about his political lot in life.
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