Kawakami Leads For Mayor On Kauai; Victorino in Maui County
A new political era will begin on Kauai with the departure of longtime Mayor Bernard Carvalho, who is term-limited out.
Voters on Kauai and in Maui County were choosing new mayors Tuesday.
In election results from Kauai, former state Rep.聽Derek Kawakami聽beat County Council Chairman Mel Rapozo 65.1 percent to 30.9 percent.
On Maui, County Council veteran Mike Victorino beat Elle Cochran 53.6 percent to 43.8 percent.
Farther down the ballot, neighbor island voters sorted through many other candidates.
Kauai
Kauai is ushering in an era of political change as Mayor Bernard Carvalho is term-limited out following a decade in the executive chair, and聽the largest candidate field ever聽battled for three open seats on the County Council.
Carvalho, who ran an unsuccessful primary campaign for lieutenant governor, is the longest-serving mayor in county history.
Kawakami campaigned on a pledge to address the island鈥檚 housing crisis by building more units, especially in Lihue near the island鈥檚 biggest concentration of jobs. He supports building small units for young adults and kupuna, implementing new planning approaches to mitigate damage to infrastructure and development from coastal flooding and taking action to resolve chronic traffic congestion.
There were 14 candidates vying for the county鈥檚 seven council seats. The top seven vote-getters as of lateTuesday evening are Arryl Kaneshiro, Mason K Chock, Luke A. Evslin, Ross Kagawa, KipuKai L.P. Kualii, Arthur Brun and Felicia Cowden.
Kauai is the only County Council in the state without geographic districts.
Maui
Victorino campaigned on a promise to bolster the county鈥檚 slim supply of affordable and workforce housing options by incentivizing developers to build affordable housing, forcing developers to set a timeline for finishing their projects and increasing rent-to-own units for Maui鈥檚 workforce.
Another policy priority for Victorino is moving planned and existing infrastructure and developments away from shorelines in the face of sea level rise.
Environmental issues rank high with Victorino, who has said he intends to unify the Valley Isle鈥檚 water system, 聽which is currently divided into four separate systems in West Maui, Central, Upcountry and East Maui. These divisions, he said, creates problems with getting needed water to some areas.
He proposes building three 100-million-gallon wells in Upcountry and then connecting the Central and Upcountry systems.
Mayor Alan Arakawa was term-limited and cannot seek another four years in office. He campaigned for County Council instead, but he trailed behind聽Tasha Kama, who garnered 56.4 percent of the vote late Tuesday evening. Arakawa had 34.8 percent of the votes.
Three other seats will be decided on Maui鈥檚 nine-member County Council.
For West Maui,聽Tamara Paltin beat Rick Nava 56 percent to 28.8 percent.
For Makawao-Haiku-Paia, Mike Molina beat Trinette Furtado 47.9 percent to 40.5 percent.
For Molokai, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez beat Stacy Helm Crivello 43.7 percent to 40.8.
Big Island
There was no mayoral election on Hawaii Island, and only one contested County Council race.
In District 7, Rebecca Villegas beaet Kelly Drysdale 49.5 percent to 37.9 percent.
The following candidates won their council seats in August by earning more than half of the vote in the primary: Valerie T. Poindexter for District 1, Aaron S. Y. Chung for District 2, Ashley Kierkiewicz for District 4, Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder for District 5, Maile David for District 6 and Herbert Tim Richards for District 9.
County Council members Susan Lee Loy and Karen Eoff were unopposed in their re-election bids for District 3 and District 8, respectively.
