Hirono Posts Solid Fundraising Numbers In Reelection Bid
She currently faces a minor GOP opponent in 2024 while Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda are so far unopposed.
More than six months out from primary day, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono has nearly $1.8 million in campaign cash and faces no Democrat in the Aug. 10 contest and a relatively unknown Republican in the Nov. 5 general election.
That’s a comfortable amount of money to be sitting on in a Hawaii Senate race, which can cost several million dollars if it is competitive.
Hirono, who has served in the Senate for over a decade and before that three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, could still draw a well-known challenger.
But Hawaii congressional incumbents are rarely challenged, and the candidate filing deadline of June 4 is fast approaching. Hirono herself has not had a close race since her first run for the House in 2006.
According to her filing Wednesday , Hirono raised about a half-million dollars during the last three months of the year. That’s $200,000 more than in the previous quarter, suggesting fundraising momentum.
Roughly 80% of Hirono’s donations through all of last year — just under $400,000 — came from individuals. They include prominent local donors such as lobbyist Bruce Coppa, University of Hawaii President David Lassner, Oceanit executive Patrick Sullivan, developer Stanford Carr, Servco Pacific executive Mark Fukunaga and Alexander & Baldwin vice president Meredith Ching.
The other 20% — or $107,000 — came from political action committees. They include familiar ones from Hawaii like the Central Pacific Bank Federal PAC and national ones supporting abortion-rights candidates like Emily’s List, pro-labor PACs such as the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education and several major defense contractors including Lockheed Martin and BAE. Hirono serves on .
That raised her total cash on hand to $1.8 million for the entire election cycle.
As of Thursday, only one person had filed candidacy papers for the Senate seat, but no financial records were posted. Adriel Lam, a Republican, lost a race for the state Senate in 2022.
Hirono appears to be taking no chances. The bulk of the $196,000 her campaign money spent last year went to a direct mail consultant in Illinois, a digital consultant in Virginia and a fundraising consultant in Washington, D.C.
Hawaii’s other Democratic senator, Brian Schatz, is not up for reelection until 2028.
Case And Tokuda
U.S. Rep. Ed Case served Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, which represents the neighbor islands and the part of Oahu that largely does not include Honolulu, from 2002 to 2007. He was elected to the 1st Congressional District (essentially, greater urban Honolulu) in 2018 and has easily won subsequent reelection.
Case reported having $689,000 in cash at the end of last year, which should be sufficient for another run if previous races are an indication.
While he has sometimes drawn spirited challengers from the more progressive flank of the Hawaii Democratic Party, he’s not had a tough race in years. He also so far has yet to attract any competitors in 2024, according to the FEC.
Case pulled in $306,000 in donations last year. Much of the congressman’s money came from PACs including ones for Home Depot, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the American Council of Engineering Companies and Hawaiian Airlines. Case is a member of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Notable campaign expenditures for Case include to D.C. consulting firm Eckert and Associates and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda also does not yet have anyone running against her. But she is in her first term and she faced an aggressive opponent in the 2022 election.
Tokuda had $318,500 in cash and raised only around $85,000 in the last quarter. Her donors were a blend of local contributors such as political consultant Jennifer Sabas, insurance executive Mark Mugiishi and banker Paul Yonamine, and PACs for the American Sugarbeet Growers Association and American Crystal Sugar Co. Tokuda serves on the House Committee on Agriculture.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Tokuda raised $85,000 last year. In fact, that was the figure for the last quarter.
Tokuda spent over a quarter of a million dollars last year, including well over $25,000 for communications, compliance and fundraising consulting. One of those firms is Blue Wave Political Partners of D.C., whose clients have included Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
