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Four Democrats are competing in the Aug. 10 primary to replace Rep. Cedric Gates in House District 45. Gates is giving up the seat and running for the state Senate instead.

The open House seat — covering a swath of West Oahu that includes Waianae, Makaha and Makua — presents a rare opportunity for new voices to make their way into the Legislature, said University of Hawaii political scientist Colin Moore.

“Waianae is one of the few places on Oahu where primary elections are competitive right now,” he said.

A common thread between the four Democratic candidates in the Aug. 10 primary — Cross Makani Crabbe, Desire DeSoto, Philip Ganaban and Ranson Soares — is their connection to the district’s history.

Several candidates have grandparents who worked for Oahu Sugar Co. in Makaha before the islands-wide labor strike of 1946. And one candidate has an 18-year history serving in the U.S. Army, making him sympathetic to the military’s controversial presence in the area.

Oahu’s Westside has more Native Hawaiians than most districts across the state. Moore said candidates tend to emphasize their close ties to those communities to garner support on the campaign trail.

“Emphasizing their support for Native Hawaiians is an important part of campaigning in that district, along with other bread-and-butter issues like public safety,” he said.

Over the past decade, candidates say, their close-knit community has been transformed by a rise in violent crime, traffic on Farrington Highway and homeless encampments taking over public park space. They each have ambitious proposals to resolve these issues.

Some ideas include expanding access to higher education opportunities for low-income school students, creating an emergency route to Waianae and allocating more funds for nonprofits that support homeless communities.

Whoever wins the Aug. 10 primary will square off against the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 general election. Waianae Neighborhood Board Chair Tiana Wilbur and local businessman Chris Muraoka are competing for the GOP nomination.

Civil Beat is hosting a panel with all six candidates on Monday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Waianae High School, 82-251 Farrington Highway in Waianae. Voters can hear from the candidates and ask any pressing questions about their platforms.

Desire DeSoto

Desire DeSoto, 50, says she’ll be a strong advocate for students in the Legislature.

Over her 28-year career with the Department of Education, DeSoto has taught alternative learning programs for at-risk youth and counseled thousands of public school students. She said many Westside students come from low-income families and experience violence at home which negatively affects their interactions inside and outside of the classroom.

“They get caught in ugly cycles of family trauma,” she said. 

DeSoto was recognized for her decades-long dedication to supporting her students in 2018 when she was named the Hawaii School Counselor of the Year. She was also a finalist for the 2019 American School Counselor of the Year.

But her work has become more demanding as the DOE struggles to fill critical staffing shortages. 

For the past three years DeSoto has served as the sole school counselor for 450 students at Waianae Elementary. She says the student-to-counselor ratio does a disservice to students who are not having their needs met at home. DeSoto would address the issue by supporting legislative efforts to train and hire more counselors. 

DeSoto pointed to the high absentee rates in Waianae. In 2022, about 58% of Waianae students missed 15 or more school days. And absenteeism may be disproportionately affecting Native Hawaiian students, as 54% of Waianae students are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, according to the , which annually assesses children and families’ well-being across the United States.

To diversify higher education opportunities on the Leeward Coast, DeSoto says she will advocate for more funding for paid internship programs, and apprenticeships for students from low-income families. She also plans to support the introduction of more trade school options.

Her other priorities include, advocating for tax breaks for working-class families, and seeking nonviolent solutions to public safety concerns such as homeless encampments in public park space.

She is opposes Honolulu’s efforts to clear homeless encampments. Instead, she would support funding similar initiatives to Honolulu’s Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program. The CORE program sends social workers and EMTs on nonviolent homeless-related 911 calls, rather than police.

“We can’t police poverty,” she said. 

Read Desire DeSoto’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.

Cross Makani Crabbe

Cross Crabbe, 25, is no stranger to Hawaii politics and he’s hoping to fill the seat being vacated by his current boss, Rep. Cedric Gates.

He interned for then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in 2021 and then as session staff for Gates. In 2022, he went to work in Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s Office of Housing and Homelessness before returning to work for Gates as his office manager, a job he still holds.

In 2022, Crabbe ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Rep. Amy Perruso for the District 46 seat, covering Wahiawa and Whitmore Village, where he previously lived.  

Crabbe’s top priorities are addressing homelessness, expanding access to higher education, working with the Honolulu Police Department to address the district’s rise in crime, creating a crime-watch neighborhood task force and fostering better communication between voters and elected officials. 

Crabbe has worked for an assortment of nonprofits. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, he volunteered with the Waianae Comprehensive Health Center, serving meals to homeless community members and their children.

Crabbe supports creating a data base to track where people are coming from and how they are becoming homeless as a way to understand who is living in the encampments. He says this will help the Legislature determine how to spend funds on the issue.

Crabbe says he will push for more paid internship programs and trade school options.

“Being able to advocate for these things is my passion,” he said.

Read Cross Makani Crabbe’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.

Ranson Soares

Ranson Soares, 32, says one of his priorities would be reforming Hawaii’s criminal justice system, an issue he has firsthand experience with.

Soares has spent time in prison — a four-month stretch followed by another eight months in 2018. His past offenses include stalking, first-degree burglary, first-degree terroristic threatening and a firearm offense.

Soares also says he will push for more trade programs in schools, improve government transparency, negotiate better labor agreements for union workers and address the rise of homeless encampments in Waianae.

With over 13 years of experience in the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades, Soares believes using his firsthand knowledge of working in construction will help legislators better understand the cost for construction behind large-scale projects such as the Honolulu rail.

Since his childhood in Waianae, Soares has seen an exponential rise of homeless people around his once-quiet hometown community. He opposes using police to sweep encampments. Having spent nights on the streets himself, Soares says he has empathy for homeless individuals grappling with mental illness and substance abuse issues.

To help homeless community members get back on their feet, he would support allocating more funds for nonprofit addiction recovery centers such as Waianae Coast Comp Health Center Malama Recovery Services.

Read Ranson Soares’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.

Philip Ganaban

Philip Ganaban, 55, promises to improve government transparency.

The accountability reforms on his agenda include supporting term limits for elected officials, and limiting campaign contributions from private donors. He said these are crucial reforms needed to end the state’s pay-to-pay politics.

“I don’t have any union endorsements or financial backing because I want to speak my for myself,” he said.

His ambitious agenda includes, addressing homelessness, violent crime, cost of living concerns and access to higher education.

Gannaban said the root of homelessness lies in the state’s poor education system. He argues that public schools lean too much toward liberal arts, and says they should focus on teaching young people trades like carpentry, tech and metal work.

He attributes Waianae’s rise in crime to the district’s burgeoning homeless population.

Ganaban, who grew up in Waianae, says some Hawaiian cultural practices have been lost, like night fishing because nighttime curfews have been imposed in an effort to combat the rise of homeless encampments on the beach.

Asked how the community has changed since his childhood, Ganaban said the most significant difference is the traffic buildup on Farrington Highway. He said the issue has raised concerns among locals that the area could be vulnerable to wildfire and evacuation might be difficult.

After graduating from Waianae High School, Ganaban served 18 years in the Marine Corps as a medical specialist.

Read Philip Ganaban’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A.