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CHICAGO – On the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Hawaii delegate James Wataru — a union rep and self-described “blue-collar guy” — found himself tearing up as he listened to the president of the United States give his pitch for the party’s future.

It was the first time Wataru felt hope that Democrats really have a chance to win in November. 

“It was a big emotion,” Wataru said, and one that set the tone for a chaotic but uplifting week for many of Hawaii’s delegates.  

Hawaii doesn’t have much sway in the presidential election. It’s not a swing state. It only has four electoral votes and those votes are virtually guaranteed for whoever the Democratic nominee is. 

Even if Hawaii had stronger leverage to exert, the national convention is no longer a place where candidacies are brokered and party policies are hammered out. It is, essentially, a made-for-TV pep rally meant to serve as a giant megaphone for the party’s platform and rally the thousands of party foot soldiers who will spend the next 70-odd days pounding the pavement for their candidate.

Tucked up in the back of a delegate section near the stage behind Montana and Vermont, many of Hawaii’s 41-member delegation said that’s OK — no matter the seating arrangements or how carefully orchestrated it all is, there’s real value in Hawaii being at the party.  

The convention offers a chance to participate in trainings, network with other politicians and organizers, and swap strategies for addressing issues like climate change and tax cuts on a local level. 

Most of all, there’s a buzz that comes from mingling with fellow party members from across the country and being in the stadium itself that simply can’t be replicated by watching a television screen. It’s an energy many delegates hope to bring back with them to Hawaii to help bring about tangible change — on a national and local level.

An exciting national campaign can have a ripple effect on local politics, said state Sen. Lorraine Inouye. And Hawaii, which saw the lowest voter turnout in August’s Democratic primary of any election since statehood, needs a shot in the arm.

“It doesn’t really work to be kind of lazy and think ‘my vote doesn’t count,’” said Brad Lum, a kumu hula and first-time delegate who believes voter apathy is eroding democracy in Hawaii. “Your vote counts. Everyone’s vote counts.”

Lessons For Hawaii

Sitting in the small banquet room at the Hyatt Regency that the Hawaii and Utah delegations shared for their breakfast meetings each morning during the convention, Honolulu City Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam looked curiously at a glossy photo of a dry lake bed handed to him by a Utah delegate. 

One of the council members from West Valley City, Utah, is running for a spot in the state legislature and wants to address the related issues of climate change and toxic dust from the lake bed, explained Utah delegate Liz Weight, adding that the politician was part-Samoan and grew up in Hawaii. 

“How can we help him?” Dos Santos-Tam quickly asked, as the table full of Hawaii delegates shifted their attention to Weight.

Sitting in the same room the following day, Gov. Josh Green burst into a grin as he saw former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock walking toward him. The two politicians, who greeted each other with hugs, had only met on Zoom. This kind of moment Green said, was the real value for him of the convention.

State Rep. Della Au Belatti said she’s been particularly interested in talking to state lawmakers from across the country about local efforts to help middle-class families — something that she said has been a particular theme of conversations among her peers and that Hawaii is struggling with.

“I’m just so energized,” she said. “The connections that are being made, the speeches that we’re hearing, the inspiration that we’re getting is something that’s going to move me and it’s kind of reinvigorating my passions for what I want to do.” 

Inouye said the conference provided a stronger sense of how to rally support for Vice President Kamala Harris. Inouye is concerned about the state of the Democratic Party on the Big Island. She plans to hit the ground running when she gets back from the convention campaigning for the presidential nominee on the Big Island and use any momentum she can build to help strengthen the local political scene.

The intentional — and unintentional — networking at the convention is one of the biggest reasons to shell out the thousands of dollars needed to attend, delegates said. Though some delegates get sponsorship, most must pay for their own travel and housing.

Hawaii’s outgoing National Committeeman Bart Dame was cutting down on costs by sharing a room at a hostel with three other delegates.

As the leader of Hawaii’s uncommitted delegation — a group trying to pressure the DNC to take more action on the war in Gaza, Dame is decidedly less enthusiastic about the value of the convention.

On Thursday, the day after to the uncommitted movement’s monthlong effort to get the party to allow a Palestinian to give a speech on the convention floor, Dame said this was likely his last convention.

Many of the real decisions in the party are essentially made behind closed doors and most party members never get access to them, Dame said, pointing out that delegates weren’t until 24 hours before voting on it.

In past years, the party had platform hearings in advance and held events in different states to gather input.

“This time it was very tightly controlled,” Dame said. “So the small ‘d’ democratic aspect of the Democratic National Convention has atrophied to a point where we’re basically an audience — a studio audience and a backdrop for a well-produced show.”

But what a show it is.

Which speaker provided more “chicken skin” moments the night before was a frequent topic of morning coffee conversations among the delegation.

“When you get in those arenas, it has a mobilizing effect and people want to get involved,” said state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who volunteered at the convention.

Lum, the kumu hula attending his first national political convention, said he was “uplifted” after the week and plans to organize a party in Waikiki to “get out the vote” when he returns.

What Hawaii Brings To The DNC

Hawaii, “that cute little blueberry out there in the ocean” has long brought something unique to the Democratic conventions, Congresswoman Jill Tokuda said in a speech to the Hawaii and Utah delegations Wednesday.

Tokuda recalled how a senior member of the Democratic Party who has since passed used to attend the conventions wearing a mumu and dancing hula whenever she could. People would gravitate to her and her positivity, Tokuda said.

“And to me, while we are a small little state, small little bunch of delegates usually tucked away in the corner somewhere, to me, we were the ones uniting the whole convention with our aloha,” she said. “We’ve always brought this aloha to the convention, reminding people that at the end of the day we are very different, but we are united.”

As the week came toward an end, several delegates also looked toward the more concrete ways that Hawaii could influence the national political scene — a critical priority, Keohokalole said, given how the state “desperately needs federal support” for addressing pressing issues like the property insurance crisis and Red Hill mitigation.

Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii teachers union, said he was spending part of his time at the convention handwriting postcards to potential voters in the swing state of Michigan.

And Keohokalole said Hawaii politicians led by Honolulu City Council member Esther Kiaaina are planning a trip to Nevada in September to try to rally kamaaina living in the swing state to vote for Harris.

Erynn Fernandez, the Hawaii party’s former executive director, said she is seeing more evidence that Democrats nationally are paying more attention to the islands — and not just because the Hawaiian diaspora has given the aloha state a more sizable presence in many mainland communities.

“I think that they look to us as part of the future because we’re so blue,” she said. “That brings its own set of challenges. But I think that we’re starting to get a little bit more recognition nationwide. The leaders are reaching out to our leaders in Hawaii.”