The Hawaii Legislature is on track to see聽few changes after this year’s election as many incumbents聽have聽no聽opponents and other races just aren’t competitive.
All 51 House seats and half of the 25-member Senate were聽up for election, but only a handful were close in the primary Saturday.
Voters look to have narrowly booted Rep. Jo Jordan from her seat representing Waianae, giving fellow Democrat Cedric Gates the nod instead.
Gates, a former Waianae Neighborhood Board member, had 52.2 percent of the vote to Jordan’s 41.9 percent with all precincts reporting.
Voters nearly聽dealt a similar blow to Rep. Sam Kong, who was leading聽Tracy Arakaki by 37聽votes with all precincts reporting. Arakaki had been leading earlier in the night but the last wave of results gave Kong the edge.
In other close contests, Reps. Isaac Choy聽and聽Cindy Evans and Sen. Russell Ruderman appear to have held聽onto their seats.
Choy was beating Dale Kobayashi聽by just six votes after the first wave of results, managing to stretch it to 58聽votes by the time all precincts had reported.
鈥淭his has been a really grueling, taxing campaign.鈥 Kobayashi told .听
Republicans failed to field a candidate in 32 state legislative races, and 16 incumbents ran聽unopposed in both the primary and general elections, including some of the most influential members, such as House Finance Chair Sylvia Luke, Majority Leader Scott Saiki and Senate Judiciary and Labor Chair Gil Keith-Agaran.
The chart below provides the most recent primary election results for every legislative race that had more than a single candidate. Read more about certain races below the chart.
Choy Holds On To聽Manoa House Seat
It鈥檚 tough to beat an incumbent, but Democratic challenger Kobayashi ran a tough campaign against longtime lawmaker聽Choy, who claimed his opponent had “carpet-bombed” him while campaigning.
Choy was up 47.6 percent to 46.3 percent in preliminary聽returns.
Kobayashi, son of Honolulu City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, won the support of the 聽鈥 a major union and political player in House District 23聽given the many faculty who live in Manoa.
Kobayashi raised more than double what incumbent Choy raised, but Choy outspent his novice opponent by nearly $15,000.
An upbeat Choy told after the first round of results were announced that he expected to ultimately win the race. He acknowledged the criticism he’d received for some of his ideas to “tweak” the University of Hawaii, but said he just wants an affordable higher education system.
“I’ve always stood up for the students,” he said.
Ruderman Fends Off Ilagan
Democrat Russell Ruderman appears聽on track to secure a second four-year term in the Senate representing District 2, which includes Puna and Kau.
He was leading Hawaii County Councilman Greggor Ilagan,聽51.9 percent to 43.6 percent in preliminary聽returns.
Ruderman, a successful small businessman and environmentalist, wants to push for laws that boost local food production and increase the minimum wage to $15. He also has said he’d like to generate a discussion about letting the counties decide if they want to legalize recreational marijuana.
Ilagan, who became the聽youngest person ever elected to the Council at age 26 in 2012, wants to streamline government services and improve financial literacy.
Ruderman聽faces Libertarian Frederick Fogel in the general election.
Close Contest In Waianae Race
Jordan had held the House District 44 seat since 2011 when聽former Gov. Neil Abercrombie first appointed her. She was reelected in 2012 and 2014.
But she came up short in 2016. There were 231 votes separating聽her聽from Gates聽with all precincts reporting.
In late July, Gates had a who he said聽sent emails out saying he wasn’t certified to be a Democrat and shouldn’t be on the ballot.
He’s also had to contend with his campaign signs being vandalized by people who spray-painted racial slurs.
The winner faces Republican Marc Pa’aluhi in the general. Pa’aluhi was up聽48.4 percent to 42.9 percent over his opponent, Tamiko Sequin, according to the preliminary results.
Kong Falls To聽Arakaki
Kong was trailing challenger Tracy Arakaki,聽42.8 percent of the vote to Arakaki’s 42.2 percent, with all precincts reporting.
Kong was first elected in 2014 to the House District 33 seat, which represents Aiea. The florist is a strong opponent of tax increases.
This is Arakaki’s second time running against Kong. The news cameraman and small business owner lost to Kong聽in 2014 in a similarly close contest, 聽in the Democratic primary two years ago.
As in most state legislative races in Hawaii, the Democratic candidate easily wins the general election. Kong against Republican Robert Helsham, 65.8 percent to 23.7 percent.
There is no challenger, Republican or any other party, in the general election this year so the Democratic candidate wins outright in the primary.
Former Senate President Keeps Seat
Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, the chamber’s former president, already had built聽one of the largest campaign war chests amongst her colleagues but that didn鈥檛 stop Carl Campagna from running.
She was up 78.3 percent to 13.4 percent聽with all precincts reporting.
A first-time candidate looking to take District 14, which runs from parts of Aiea to Kalihi, Campagna worked with the limited resources he had and hoped to win the seat by knocking on 8,000 doors in the district.
Though Campagna has a strong background in the Democratic Party and served on several committees, Kim鈥檚 32-year political career and reputation as a strong voice in the Legislature proved insurmountable.
With no Republican challenger, or opponent from any other party, this primary race is a winner-take-all event.
Rhoads Succeeds Chun Oakland In Senate
Rep. Karl Rhoads left a secure House seat after 10 years to make a bid to fill a vacancy in the Senate created by Suzanne Chun Oakland’s retirement.
The decision聽paid off, as Rhoads was聽up 41.8 percent against his Democratic opponents,聽Kim Coco Iwamoto, who has 29.4 percent of the vote, and Keone Nakoa with 21.6 percent with all precincts reporting.
Rhoads, who had been the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, will face Republican Rod Tam in the general election.
Tam switched parties, quitting the Democrats, to run in this election.
He is a former state legislator and Honolulu City Council member who had to spend two nights in jail four years ago for stealing city funds and violating campaign spending laws. He was also ordered to perform 300 hours of community service, but his record has been wiped clean after staying out of trouble.
Ing Dominates Tegarden For Maui聽Seat
Rep. Kaniela Ing battled聽for a third term in the House against fellow Democrat Deidre Tegarden, who was protocol chief for Abercrombie and secured some substantial endorsements leading up to the election.
Ing, one of the state’s youngest lawmakers, had 61.9 percent of the vote to Tegarden’s 35.7 percent in the race to represent south Maui with all precincts reporting.
The winner faces Republican Danny Pekus in the general.
Chang Will Try聽To Unseat Slom
Former Honolulu City Councilman聽Stanley Chang was up against Democratic opponents聽Michael Bennett and Richard Kim in the race to ultimately try to unseat Republican Sen. Sam Slom in the general election.
Chang had 65.4 percent of the vote, Bennett had 18.4 percent and Kim had 4.3 percent with all precincts reporting.
Slom, the Senate’s sole Republican, has held the District 9 seat representing East Honolulu for two decades.
Chang raised tens of thousands of dollars and racked up key endorsements from labor unions like the Hawaii Government Employees’ Association, the state’s biggest.
Bennett, an opthamologist, was聽running his first race. Kim is a musician who has struggled to raise campaign money.
Nakamura Wins Race聽For聽Kauai House Seat
The Democratic primary race for an empty House seat representing east and north Kauai pitted Nadine Nakamura, a planner, former councilwoman and county managing director, against聽Fern Anuenue Rosenstiel, an聽environmentalist who led the effort聽to establish buffer zones around areas where biotech companies that grow genetically engineered seeds spray pesticides.
Nakamura led 58.7聽percent to 32.6聽percent聽with all precincts reporting.
The rare open District 14 race was created when Rep. Derek Kawakami decided to聽run for Kauai County Council instead.
Kawakami聽received the most votes out of the 13 candidates for Council. All the candidates advance to the general election where the top seven will then be elected.
Nakamura will face Republican Sandi Combs in the general.
Mizuno Easily Wards Off Challenger
House Vice Speaker John Mizuno faced a Democratic primary challenge in District 28 for the first time in 10 years.
Ikaika Hussey, an entrepreneur and publisher, first ran for office in 2000 at age 22 in the Kailua-Kaneohe area, but decided to strengthen his community roots before running again, this time in Kalihi.
Mizuno outspent his opponent this year by a nearly 5-to-1 margin.
Mizuno was leading 68.4 percent to 27.4 percent with all precincts reporting.
He will face Republican Carole Kaapu in the general.
Dems Battle To Unseat Fukumoto
In the Democratic primary for Mililani, former House District聽36 lawmaker聽Marilyn Lee faced off against first-timer Zuri Aki, who cites Lee as a mentor.
Lee led 63.1 percent to 26.7 percent聽with all precincts reporting.
Republican Rep. Beth Fukumoto Chang ousted Lee from her seat in 2012 by a nearly 5 percent margin and won again in the 2014 election.
She will face Lee again in the Nov. 8 general election.
Battle For Rhoads’ Empty House Seat
Five Democrats entered the race to replace Rhoads, who ran for state Senate instead of seeking another term representing聽House District 29, which includes Kalihi, Palama, Iwilei and Chinatown.
Daniel Holt was leading with 30.4 percent, followed by聽Firmo Dayao with聽23.9 percent,聽Alvin Au with 15.3 percent,聽James Logue with聽13.8 percent and聽Valerie Belen Dionne, who got HGEA’s endorsement, with 8.5 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting.
Holt聽faces Republican Kaiwiola Coakley in the general election.
Big Island House Race Tight
Evans barely kept聽her Democratic opponent, David Tarnas, at bay in the House District 7 race to represent North Kona and Kohala.
She won聽with 48.7 percent of the vote to his聽44.6 percent聽with all precincts reporting.
, serving as chair of the Ocean Recreation and Marine Resources Committee. He runs a planning firm with his wife, Carolyn Stewart.
Kahele Keeps Hilo Senate Seat
Kai Kahele聽won his first election, beating聽his Democratic primary opponents Dennis “Fresh” Onishi and Kaloa Robinson in the race to represent 10,000 Hilo families in Senate District 1.
Kahele had 55.4 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting. Onishi has 34.1 percent and Robinson trailed with 6.6 percent.
Gov. David Ige appointed Kahele in January to fill the seat his late father, Gil Kahele, had held since 2011. He raised far more campaign money than his competitors and secured one endorsement after another in the months leading up to the primary.
Onishi, a Hawaii County Council member, was term-limited after eight years so he ran for the Senate seat.听Robinson, a planner in the county housing office, had served for several years as former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka鈥檚 legislative assistant in the 1990s before moving back聽to Hawaii.
The winner faces Libertarian Kimberly Arianoff in the Nov. 8 general election.
Eli Will Go Up聽Against Tupola
Two Democrats squared off in the House District 43 contest to unseat Republican Rep. Andria Tupola.
Former state Rep. Karen Awana was trailing with 40.3聽percent of the vote, and Stacelynn Eli, whom HGEA endorsed, was leading with 51.6 percent with all precincts reporting.
Awana resigned from her House leadership position in 2013 after facing thousands of dollars in penalties for breaking state campaign finance laws.
Tupola won her first term in the House in a campaign against Awana in the 2014 election, bringing in 56 percent of the vote.
Learn more about the candidates here. See all the election results .
– Courtney Teague contributed reporting to this story. Jaelynn Grisso produced the interactive chart.
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Nathan Eagle is a deputy editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at neagle@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter at , Facebook and Instagram .