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Bert Kobayashi, the 78-year-old lawmaker from Kaimuki, is retiring this year at the end of his term. That’s making the House District 20 Democratic primary race unusually competitive and one to watch.

With five Democrats running to replace Kobayashi, the crowded Aug. 10 primary race is an outlier in Hawaii’s legislative elections this year. While all 51 House seats are up for grabs, 24 Democratic incumbents face no primary challenger. Many don’t even have an opponent from another party in the Nov. 5 general election.

The roster of blue candidates in House District 20 includes John Choi, Tina Grandinetti, Kevan Wong, James Logue and George Hooker. The lone Republican in the race, who has no primary challenger, is Corinne Solomon.

The district is spread across a number of communities, including Kahala, Kaimuki, Kapahulu, Waialae and Leahi. Worries about housing, homelessness, road safety, crime and pay-to-pay politics are the most pressing problems that candidates promise to address. But not all contenders have tangible plans to support their claims for solutions. 

Diamond Head Neighborhood Board Chair Winston Welch said he often hears community concerns about housing: rising rents, too many short-term rentals and mega-condos being built in low-rise residential areas.

“How do we keep the feeling that people know and love about our community in the face of really strong development pressures?” he asked.

With less than two months away before the primary, the candidates are hot on the campaign trail: sign waving, door knocking, shaking hands and talking story.

Civil Beat interviewed the five Democratic candidates for this story. Links to Civil Beat’s questionnaire are provided if available. The others will be added as they come in.

We’re also hosting a “Meet The Candidates” pop-up newsroom on Wednesday evening that all six candidates for the seat have said they will attend. The event, at Civil Beat’s Kaimuki office, begins at 5 p.m. with a moderated discussion with the candidates led by Civil Beat reporter Blaze Lovell followed by plenty of time for more casual mingling for those who want to stay and chat. No RSVP necessary.

Kevan Wong

Kevan Wong knows firsthand about the burden of high homeownership costs on Oahu.

Born and raised on 12th Avenue in Kaimuki, the 35-year-old Democratic candidate now lives with his 90-plus-year-old grandparents in Diamond Head. His father passed away when he was in high school and his mother moved to the mainland. 

“My dad was the breadwinner and it was very difficult for us,” he said. 

Wong said the rising number of residents leaving due to high housing costs is the foremost concern facing his community. “It’s just so expensive here,” he said.

To address the need for more housing, Wong said he would negotiate meetings between developers and so-called NIMBYs to create plans for more housing projects that meet the needs of lower income communities.

“I’m not saying we should put a giant high rise in the middle of Kaimuki,” he said. “But we’ve seen a few that are, you know, down by Kahala Mall.”

Asked about when he plans to push for development, Wong said, “I don’t know if it’s the right time now, but I think we can discuss it.”

He said part of the problem with affordable housing is slow construction time. Wong wants the state to train contractors, electricians and plumbers to help hasten development and provide jobs for residents searching for work.

“We have projects that are waiting to be bid on that just don’t have the manpower,” he said.

Along those lines, Wong wants schools to provide more technical training and financial literacy courses to get students better prepared for the job market. But he did not have a solid plan in mind to make this happen.

Wong has spent the past 12 years in government, including at the Legislature. He spent seven years as office manager and committee clerk for Rep. Scott Nishimoto, a member of the House Finance Committee.

“My plan is to hit the ground running.”

Kevan Wong

“I’ve been doing legislation-related things for 12 years now,” Wong said. “Not just the simple things, but all of them.” 

He said this includes reading bills, leading committees, researching policy, and connecting with local leaders.

Since 2019, Wong has worked as the legislative liaison in Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s policy staff pool. He spends his days reading and analyzing legislation.

In terms of homelessness, Wong wants to increase funding for the state’s CORE program, an outreach service to connect homeless individuals with resources like medical care.

“We tried for funding, previously, but it didn’t quite go through,” he said. “Maybe I can help with that, depending on the committees that I’m in.”

From the lanai of his grandparent’s home, Wong said he sometime sees homeless people on the slopes of Diamond Head. “We can see the fires that they’re setting from cooking or whatever it is.”

He said more funding for addiction services and building more housing are other avenues to address homelessness.

Wong believes his history in the community and his work in the government gives him a leg up on his four Democratic competitors. 

“I think a lot of times people come in and they don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “My plan is to hit the ground running.”

Read Kevan Wong’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.

John Choi

John Choi is a 55-year-old trial lawyer who has lived on Oahu for the past 26 years, now in Kapahulu. His aging parents are a 15-minute drive away in Waikiki. 

Choi is stepping into politics to help solve the housing shortage, combat homelessness and stop Hawaii’s pay-to-play politics once and for all. He said he was also concerned with the candidate Kobayashi favored.

Choi is a volunteer soccer coach, husband, father and son. 

Even though he has a lot on his plate, Choi says he can handle it. He whittled his legal work down to about 10 cases a year, ensuring more time to knock on doors and speak with constituents. He said campaigning and preparing for trial give him a similar adrenaline rush. 

“I didn’t expect that,” he said. “But, you know, there’s a deadline and you’ve got to prepare.”

He said the outcome always depends on whoever comes most prepared.

Choi plans to address the housing crisis by pushing fellow legislators to consider affordable options like the subsidized housing complexes found in Singapore, where the government supports construction costs for communal housing projects.

“From what I understand, their government housing is exceptional. And people take a lot of pride in their homes,” he said.

He said he would also push the Legislature to end land banking – where developers purchase land to build affordable housing, wait to start building and profit from the land’s appreciation.

“You’ve got to build it, or start it, do something within the first five years to show that you’re not just profiting off of it.”

On the issue of homelessness, Choi suggests the state use a processing system to check in with homeless people every 90 days. Data on someone’s well-being would be public and easily accessible for family members to find. 

“My guiding light is my faith in heaven.”

John Choi

“It seems like homelessness is the overwhelming issue that people can all agree on,” Choi said.

Another thing on Choi’s mind is road safety. He said speeding is a concern in Kahala and Kaimuki. And while canvassing Kilauea Avenue on a Saturday night, residents said young people will often stage drag races there at night.

Another reason for running, he said, is because the Legislature needs fresh faces to prevent “the same old same old.” He seeks to end pay-to-pay politics and keep “corrupt corporate lobbyists” out of office. 

Asked what keeps him grounded, Choi immediately said his faith.

“I started really developing my faith then. And for me, that has made all the difference,” he said. “My guiding light is my faith in heaven.”

Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Choi and his family immigrated to the United States in 1972. He grew up in California where he learned to surf and went to college at University of California Irvine then to the University of Vermont for his law degree. In 1998, he moved to Hawaii to start his legal career as an intern at the Attorney General’s Office.

He fell in love with Oahu and started a family. In fact, his two daughters are the driving factor behind his campaign. Choi wants to ensure his college-age girls have a home to return to. 

“If you’re fresh out of college and you want to come back to Hawaii how are you going to do it?” he said. “You would literally have to live with your parents. And then get some sort of support from them.”

Read John Choi’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.

Tina Grandinetti

Tina Grandinetti was born and raised on Oahu. The 34-year-old Democrat is a graduate of Mililani public schools and the University of Hawaii.

Moving away for graduate school, she earned a Ph.D. at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. The time away from home cemented her appreciation for Hawaii.

“Seeing the differences in culture and how important it is to keep our community here and then watching so many of my friends and family end up having to leave, it was very hard,” she said.

In 2019, she moved home to Oahu and began to feel the pressure of rising housing costs. To address the housing crisis, Grandinetti said lawmakers should work on ways to curb speculation rather than just build more housing.

A passionate advocate for Native Hawaiian communities, Grandinetti was a founding member of the Oahu Water Protectors, a community organization born from the Red Hill water crisis. While working as an office manager for Rep. Amy Perruso, she helped stage an event at the Hawaii State Capitol with over 200 community members affected by the fuel leak. She said the most impactful part of the rally was hearing from the spouses of military officials.

She said younger constituents are often misunderstood as not being educated enough on the issues. But said it’s because “they’re not always given the tools that they need.”

“That’s why we see so much like social media activism and stuff, because the young people want to be involved, but we don’t always have pathways to bring them into the hearing rooms. Or when they do come to testify, they feel like they’re not being heard,” she said.

After her time with Perruso, Grandinetti said she was inspired to help the younger generation get educated and involved. So, she started teaching political science at the University of Hawaii and is a post-doctoral researcher and housing policy specialist for a national group.

Grandinetti said she would help bridge the divide between young activists and the Legislature.

She said the responsibility of a legislator “is not just representing your constituents, but also empowering them to understand the decisions that are being made about their lives.”

Grandinetti said she recently met two elderly home owners from opposite ends of the economic spectrum. One was a woman in Kahala whose neighborhood was almost entirely empty due to part-time renters. She lamented to Grandinetti how much she missed feeling a sense of community around her home.

On the other end of the economic scale, the second woman was caring for her mother in a low-rise rental unit. She told Grandinetti they had been living without electricity for a month, using gas to cook and take hot showers.

Grandinetti said the two stories show her that state has not prioritized the working people and that she would always put “people above profits.”

The responsibility of a legislator “is not just representing your constituents, but also empowering them to understand the decisions that are being made about their lives.”

Tina Grandinetti

Grandinetti said she also will fight for paid parental leave and wage increases for teachers. And she promises to advocate for union workers at every turn. She also supports publicly financed election campaigns as a way to improve trust between residents and the government.

Grandinetti lives with her partner and hopes to start a family soon. She wants to foster a community where parents “can afford to raise their keiki around the lands and waters that we love.”

Read Tina Grandinetti’s Civil Beat Q&A here.

James Logue

James Logue is not a new name on the ballot.

He ran to represent Chinatown in 2020 and more recently took on Kobayashi for the District 20 seat in the last election cycle, receiving 17% of the vote.

Logue and his wife moved to Kaimuki to raise their 11-month-old son. His mother recently moved from the East Coast to care for their newborn. Without her, he said, raising a newborn, being a supportive partner, running for representative, and working for the state as a welfare-fraud special investigator would be too much to handle. 

As a special investigator, Logue says he has honed his ability to snuff out foul play, which is an advantage in Hawaii’s Legislature, he said. His job entails reading cases of potential welfare fraud and following up on substantial cases where government money is being used by individuals who do not qualify for support.

Housing affordability is a top concern for Logue. He said the current system of granting developers tax incentives to “build, build, build” is not working. Logue said he would work with his fellow legislators to compose a plan to build more housing for working families.

Logue also supports the movement for paid parental leave. He promises to help push for lower taxes on essential items such as food and medication which will help families hold onto more of their income.

Supporting small businesses is another important area for Logue. He says they play a vital role in diversifying the state’s economy and hopes to push tax breaks for those owners.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Logue the working class resonates with Logue.

He moved to Hawaii 18 years ago as a member of the Army reserves. “They offered me Hawaii, and I thought they were joking,” he said. 

But he was soon deployed to Iraq where he stayed for 15 months. But, Logue said, his view of the war shifted once on the ground and he requested to be sent back to Hawaii.

To help solve the housing crisis, Logue said the military should give up some of the land it is occupying in the islands. 

“I don’t understand why the military has so much land,” he said. “It would be nice to get the military to give up some space back to the state or the counties.”

After returning to Oahu in 2014, he got a job as a legislative assistant at the State Capitol where he saw the ins-and-outs of Hawaii politics but also began to notice a burgeoning problem right outside the doors: a growing number of homeless people sleeping on the streets. 

Logue was flummoxed by the fact the House had not rolled out a plan to address the humanitarian crisis. “How can all 51 of these people not agree this is an issue?” he said.

He promises to help push for lower taxes on essential items such as food and medication which will help families hold onto more of their income.

He said he often met homeless people while working for the Department of Human Services in the food stamp office. Logue learned about their needs and saw the positive impact of medicating individuals suffering from mental illness. 

Logue said his diverse range of experiences will carry him through any obstacle while in office, adding it’s not just about all the experiences he had but also the conversations he’s shared. 

“It’s also just the people that you meet along the way and the stories that you hear and the lives that you learn about,” he said. “It helps form a nice, more well-rounded view of the world.”

Read James Logue’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.

George Hooker

One of nine children, George Hooker says he knows how to be a team player. 

Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Hooker moved to Oahu for college and fell in love with the aloha spirit surrounding the island. He walked onto University of Hawaii’s football team and developed a deep bond with his teammates.

But after graduation in 2022, Hooker noticed many of his local friends were moving off island. They would say, “I’m moving to Vegas, or I’m moving to the mainland,” he said.

A staunch supporter of Gov. Josh Green’s housing policies, Hooker hopes to help his friends, former teammates and neighbors afford to stay in the place they love. To help accomplish this, he would work with fellow legislators to bring down the number of short-term rentals in areas like Kahala.

Furthermore, Hooker is campaigning on the promise to rewrite the tax code. He seeks to eliminate state income tax and increase property taxes for non-residents. But he did not expand on how he plans to make it happen.

Although he’s now running as a Democrat, Hooker worked for Republican Rep. Elijah Pierick during the 2023 session. Hooker says he disagrees with Pierick’s politics, but concedes he learned a lot during his time working under the controversial politician. He said the experience partially inspired him to run for office.

“I want people to know my name, have my phone number, have my email, yell at me if they want to.”

George Hooker

Hooker seeks to improve access to education in places like Palolo. He said Hawaii residents are being priced out of their homes because they are not receiving the same education or job opportunities as out-of-state transplants living on the island. 

Before moving to Oahu, Hooker was in the military from 2018 to 2020 where he was a competitive wrestler, competing internationally in places like Panama, Germany and Poland. He said his diverse set of experiences will serve him well in the Legislature.

Hooker also served in the Hawaii National Guard. But said, just because he’s former military, does not mean he stands with them on issues such as land use and the Red Hill fuel leak. 

“Just because I’m a former service member doesn’t mean I don’t see the inadequacies and mistakes in the military,” he said.

Transparency is important to Hooker. He would also push for reforms around pay-to-play politics and keep his fellow lawmakers accountable. Beyond that, he said his office would always be open to District 20 residents. 

“I want people to know my name, have my phone number, have my email, yell at me if they want to,” he said. “We all need to feel heard.”

The campaign trail has been tiring for the 26-year-old Hooker. But he said the experience has been rewarding. With what he says are over 5,000 door knocks under his belt, Hooker promises to trudge on until the primary on Aug. 10.