In Crowded Race For Congress, Democrats Span Ideological Spectrum
Unlike candidates in many blue districts on the mainland, progressives have struggled to find traction in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District Democratic primary.
State Rep. Kaniela Ing has gained some national attention as an insurgent Democratic candidate trying to build off the successes of celebrated progressives Sen. Bernie Sanders and , who last month upended a powerful 10-term incumbent House member.
But Ing, who bills himself as a democratic socialist, has seemingly found little traction among local voters in the race to fill the open seat for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District.
Instead, voters in the district, which encompasses the most heavily populated areas of Oahu, seem poised to send a more moderate, establishment candidate to Congress to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
The frontrunner, according to a taken in mid-July, is former U.S. Rep. Ed Case, who has preached a middle-of-the-road message. He’s followed by Lt. Gov. Doug Chin and veteran state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, who each have strong mainstream Democratic credentials.
Ing lagged far behind the leaders among likely Democratic voters in the poll. Another candidate trying to appeal to progressive voters on the left wing of the party, Republican-turned-Democrat Beth Fukumoto, gathered little backing in the poll.聽The other candidate in the Democratic field, Honolulu City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, also trailed the top group.聽聽
A Civil Beat Poll in May, just before Case joined the race, had Kim and Chin as the front-runners.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary is widely expected to win the general election.
Colin Moore, an associate professor of political science at the University of Hawaii Manoa and the director of the school’s , says he doesn’t see progressive candidates聽catching fire in Hawaii鈥檚 1st Congressional District.聽
鈥淗awaii politics, generally, are very Democratic, but they鈥檙e not necessarily progressive,鈥 Moore said. 鈥淛ust look at the people who run the Hawaii State Legislature. They鈥檙e hardly radical.鈥
On the other hand, Hawaii’s federal delegation 鈥 in particular Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz 鈥 tend to fall on the of the political spectrum when compared to the rest of their colleagues. U.S Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is favored to win re-election in Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, has aligned herself with the Bernie Sanders wing of the party.
鈥楢 Question Of Past Versus Future鈥
Case is a former congressman who caucused with the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, a conservative faction of the House Democrats, and for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He now works as a tourism industry executive, and, if elected, says he wants to make reducing the deficit a focal point of his tenure.
In an age of hyper-partisanship, Case says his middle-of-the road mentality might be what鈥檚 needed in Washington, even in the era of Trump.
He said that while the district is progressive on equal rights, labor and social safety nets 鈥 it has one of the best health care systems in the country 鈥 it鈥檚 more conservative on economic and foreign policy issues.
For instance, he said he doesn鈥檛 think voters here would support abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an idea backed by Ing, Fukumoto and many progressives around the country 鈥 or opening up U.S. borders for anyone to cross.聽聽
鈥淥ne of my motivations for going back to Washington is that I think our system is broken and that our government is not working,鈥 Case said.
鈥淵ou need to have your great debates and fights, sometimes within your own caucus. But then you need to look at where you can actually find agreement both in your caucus and within the other party.鈥
Chin, meanwhile, made a name for himself suing the Trump administration as Hawaii鈥檚 attorney general. He鈥檚 now lieutenant governor, but was previously a prosecutor and a lobbyist, a job in which he once represented the private prison industry.
Chin takes a measured approach when discussing his own ideology, which he said now leans more progressive. Chin, who came under criticism in the campaign for a 1995聽聽he gave at his church, said many of his positions have evolved.
His campaign has focused on his legal challenges to the Trump administration鈥檚 discriminatory policies, particularly the president鈥檚 travel ban that targeted Muslim-majority countries.
But while resistance is needed, he said, it can鈥檛 be absolute. Voters in the district, Chin says, tell him they want someone in Congress who does more than lob ideological bombs at those who disagree with them.
Kim, the fundraising leader in the race, has held office for more than 30 years on the Honolulu City Council and in the Legislature, where she rose to the position of Senate president. She鈥檚 known as a tough watchdog over certain government agencies. She’s also taken some聽conservative social stances such as voting against civil unions and same-sex marriage. Kim did not respond to a request for an interview for this article.聽聽
Martin spent much of his career in city government as a bureaucrat and politician.聽But he鈥檚 perhaps best known as Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell鈥檚 primary antagonist, in particular on matters involving how best to pay for the city鈥檚 over-budget rail project, which officials now estimate at $9 billion. Martin also didn’t respond to requests for an interview.聽
Fukumoto, on the other hand, bills herself as one of the most progressive voices in the race, despite having been a member of the Republican Party until 2017. Fukumoto has tried to strike a similar tone to Ing on issues, with both supporting abolishing ICE and creation of a single-payer healthcare system.聽
She said it鈥檚 hard for young candidates like her and Ing to stand out when the odds are stacked so heavily against them, particularly when it comes to fundraising.
鈥淭he majority of the big donors in the state are not progressive. They鈥檙e the same people who would donate to Republicans if the Republicans were in power,鈥 Fukumoto said.
鈥淥nly in Hawaii is one of the frontrunners (Kim) somebody who took Monsanto money.鈥
Hawaii campaign spending records show Kim has received thousands of dollars from Monsanto Company in recent years, as has Martin.
Fukumoto said the urgency voters hear in her and Ing鈥檚 voices comes from the fact that it鈥檚 hard for young people to stay here without family support.
鈥淲e鈥檙e the ones who are going to get pushed out,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in the process of losing an entire generation of local residents who just can鈥檛 afford to live here anymore.鈥
Evoking The Party’s ‘Radical Roots’
Ing is backed by Justice Democrats, a national group that鈥檚 聽such as Ocasio-Cortez throughout the U.S. to challenge the establishment and shift the party farther to the left.
Ing鈥檚 campaign shuns corporate donors and also calls for the abolishment of ICE and recently announced a 鈥溾 plan that he hopes will build 10 million new housing units nationwide.
He says workers in Hawaii are struggling to get by, and he blames the Democratic Party establishment that has controlled the state for decades.
鈥淥ur party has extremely leftist radical roots,鈥 Ing said, evoking the in Hawaii, when the party ended long-standing Republican control of the Legislature. 鈥淚鈥檓 just restoring the heart and soul to the party.”
Ing was fined $15,000 by the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission for , including spending donor money on his personal rent and his partner鈥檚 credit card bill.聽Despite repeated apologies and promises to clean up his finances, Ing continues to make mistakes, including by over-reporting how much money his campaign earned in the latest quarter and understating how much he鈥檚 spent.
He鈥檚 also for misrepresenting that he had a master’s degree when, in fact, he did not.
Can A ‘Rabble Rouser’ Win?
Moore said that while it鈥檚 鈥渞efreshing鈥 to have candidates like Ing pushing ideas from the left and many of those views have gotten outside attention on social media nationally, it’s still an uphill climb in this race.聽
鈥淭here鈥檚 an expectation that our federal representatives will be cautious and do what they can to work with everyone for the benefit of Hawaii,鈥 Moore said. 鈥淚n other words, I don鈥檛 think being a rabble rouser at that level is always that attractive.鈥
National experts view the race in a similar light.
While Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the democratic socialist movement are gaining traction in moving the party left in some blue districts, moderate Democrats are making strides, too, particularly in districts that can help flip the Republican-held House, according to聽David Wasserman, an editor at , where he handicaps House races.
He also said the 2018 midterms have been about the rise of women candidates more so than ideology.
鈥淭his race doesn鈥檛 seem to be conforming to the patterns we鈥檝e seen in other Democratic primaries,鈥 Wasserman said. 鈥淎t this point it鈥檚 a question of past versus future.鈥
Ing, meanwhile, said he doesn鈥檛 put much faith in the polls, and points to Ocasio-Cortez鈥檚 race 鈥 in which her opponent, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley, believed he was up by 36 percentage points 鈥 for inspiration.
鈥淭he polls ask people who are most likely to vote what they think,鈥 Ing said. 鈥淎ll you need to do is change who votes.鈥
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About the Author
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Nick Grube is a reporter for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at nick@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter at . You can also reach him by phone at 808-377-0246.