For the first time in eight years, Republicans are running a candidate against West Oahu鈥檚 longtime Democratic state House Rep. Sharon Har.聽
She and her Republican challenger, Diamond Garcia, share more similarities than one might expect.聽
Voters looking for a socially conservative candidate to represent them in House District 42 are in luck 鈥 both Har and Garcia fit the bill.
And each professes to be pro-business, averse to government regulations that they see as hurting both local companies and the communities these companies serve.
Where they differ most seems to be in their solutions for Hawaii鈥檚 costly housing, which each brings up as a dire issue. In a reversal of their political parties鈥 usual stances, Har leans toward using market incentives, while Garcia wants the government to step in with a heavier hand to control housing costs and supplies, specifically with regards to Hawaiian homelands.
The Second City
Prior to this year鈥檚 redistricting, District 42 vaguely resembled a capital letter 鈥淯鈥 shape. The bottom part of the U contained Kapolei, while the left side 鈥 heading up the mountain 鈥 roughly took the western half of Makakilo.聽
That鈥檚 changed now: the new District 42 has shifted east, encompassing everything from Ewa Villages to the University of Hawaii West Oahu and the East Kapolei, Kanehili and Kaupea Hawaiian homelands.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 this convergence of old and new,鈥 said Har, referring to Ewa Villages鈥 plantation-era history.聽
Development is a big topic across Oahu, but it鈥檚 perhaps most salient in Kapolei, where the City and County of Honolulu started encouraging residents to move in the 1990s in an initiative to make it the island鈥檚 鈥淪econd City.鈥
Har was among this group of residents.
鈥淲hen I learned about the concept of the Second City, I got really excited,鈥 she said. The promise of being part of something new drowned out her friends鈥 concerns that she鈥檇 be too far from urban Honolulu.聽
But change didn鈥檛 come soon enough.聽
Part of this promise included a new university to serve the Westside鈥檚 population, which, like in many of the island鈥檚 districts outside urban Honolulu, is often at the mercy of heavy traffic when it comes to reaching the area鈥檚 jobs and resources.聽
For years, this project had lagged, and Har made it her No. 1 priority when she first ran for office in 2006, she said.聽
The campus opened in 2012, and Har touts her involvement in its construction, which her capital improvement project funding requests helped finance. Har, whose private sector job is consulting on affordable housing, also believes that the key to developing a healthy stock of affordable housing is to not overburden new buildings with well-intentioned聽, for example.
These stances represent Har’s view of her job: her campaign website stresses her role in 鈥渂uilding the Second City,鈥 pushing it as an issue that she鈥檚 betting aligns with voters in her district.聽
鈥淥ne of the things I鈥檓 so blessed with is my constituents are not NIMBY,鈥 she said, 鈥渢hey are not anti-development.鈥澛
Development can take many forms.
Hawaiian Homelands
District 42 contains multiple Hawaiian homelands, parcels of land designated for people with at least 50% Native Hawaiian blood in accordance with the federal-level聽Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920. Now incorporated into the state constitution, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is tasked with getting Hawaiians into homes on this land — but decades into the program, the waitlist currently has over 28,000 people.
Many beneficiaries have died on the waitlist before receiving their land.
A new mall called Ka Makana Alii opened on Hawaiian homelands聽in the district in 2016 鈥 supported by Har, who argues that it was necessary to provide a revenue stream for the cash-strapped DHHL. Garcia disagrees, saying the land should be reserved for housing, not businesses.聽
鈥淎nything that that department does needs to be building houses and giving leases out, period. No more building malls,鈥 he said.
To combat the waitlist鈥檚 monstrous length, he also supports DHHL looking at denser multifamily lots, as opposed to focusing its efforts on single-family houses.聽
Garcia grew up moving around different public housing projects on the Waianae coast, and credits religion with giving him the structure needed to provide himself with a stabler life.聽
He was about 11 or 12 years old when he happened upon one of his grandmother鈥檚 books, called “The Great Controversy,” about the belief of a long-lasting battle between God and Satan, and about the second coming of Jesus Christ. It was written by one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
This inspired him to become active in church affairs and eventually travel the world in the ministry.聽
鈥淎nd then I was flying back from New Zealand in 2017,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd I got a call from some local Republicans here in Hawaii.鈥
They had heard his story and invited him to speak at a conference, where Garcia was persuaded to run for office.聽
Most Republican candidates this cycle are first-timers, and many of them are hesitant about dipping their toes into today鈥檚 notoriously divisive partisan politics.聽
Garcia, on the other hand, is vice chair of the Hawaii Republican Party. This cycle is his third time campaigning for public office, after unsuccessfully challenging Sen. Maile Shimabukuro in 2018 and then Rep. Stacelynn Eli in 2020.
He brought up a children鈥檚 sexual education book called “Let鈥檚 Talk About It,” which he鈥檇 also , criticizing its availability in Hawaii鈥檚 public libraries as 鈥渃artoon pornography for kids鈥 as young as 6 years old.聽
The book is .
鈥淚 see my role as being someone who鈥檚 pushing back against this liberal indoctrination 鈥 because quite honestly 鈥 most families in Hawaii have conservative values,鈥 he said.聽
These conservative values extend to recreational drug use too, and Garcia said his childhood growing up among drug abuse inspired his opposition to recreational marijuana, which he sees as a gateway drug.聽
Har is also against recreational marijuana. While both candidates see value in the drug鈥檚 medicinal use, they oppose its recreational usage, citing the large number of families with young kids in their district.
Conservative Leanings
While Har is a Democrat 鈥 her political roots stretching back to watching C-SPAN as a kid and even enrolling as a Young Democrat 鈥 it鈥檇 be hard to mistake her for a progressive.
When same-sex marriage was a defining political issue in 2013, Har was its implementation during a special legislative session. She had canvassed the district and found, according to her numbers at the time, that about 70% of her constituents opposed the measure. It passed anyway.
鈥淎t the end of the day, I think we do represent our constituents,鈥 she said, emphasizing that it was a hard vote for her. 鈥淥ur personal views may not always align.鈥澛
Democrats have done well in Hawaii politics since statehood more than 60 years ago, but 鈥渢his is one of the very few interesting legislative races,鈥 said Colin Moore, director of the Public Policy Center at the University of Hawaii Manoa.聽
While Har鈥檚 more conservative stances might serve her well among those who know her in West Oahu, redistricting ensures that many of her constituents are new. This isn鈥檛 ideal for name recognition, since her DUI charge from last year 鈥 鈥 may have been the first exposure these people had to her, said Moore.
Har declined to comment on the DUI case.
Recent campaign filings show that each candidate had a little over $20,000 on hand at the start of the reporting period, though Har spent about $16,000 of that while Garcia spent about $7,000.
They also each raised about the same amount of money this stretch 鈥 a little over $7,000 鈥 but Har has raised about $44,000 over the entire election cycle, double Garcia鈥檚 total.
Many of Har鈥檚 biggest donors were labor unions like the Carpenter鈥檚 Fund or the Painter鈥檚 Union, while Garcia鈥檚 were those within Republican circles.聽
But even if things don鈥檛 go his way this election, Garcia鈥檚 familiar with playing the long game. More than twice as many candidates ran for office as Republicans this cycle than in 2020 under his and Chair Lynn Finnegan鈥檚 leadership.聽
鈥淚 really believe if our party does a good job in letting folks know that 鈥楬ey, your values align much more with us,鈥欌 said Garcia, 鈥渋n the next 2-4-6-8 years, we will be winning a lot more seats here.鈥
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About the Author
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Ben Angarone is a reporter for Civil Beat. You can reach him at bangarone@civilbeat.org.