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Editor’s note: Community activist and former Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto challenged House Speaker Scott Saiki in three straight Democratic primaries, coming close twice before defeating him in August. With no general election opponent, she has won the District 25 seat outright.

In an interview edited for length and clarity, she envisions a reform movement she hopes will lead to a more transparent, effective and yes — nicer — Legislature.

Congratulations on your victory over the speaker of the House. Obviously, you defied the political system we have here that favors powerful incumbents. How did you do it?

Well, first, I want to start by thanking Civil Beat and some of the other media sources and people who kept calling out pay-to-play politics. That was so important because I believe that the voters in Kakaako, Ala Moana, downtown, they consume media, they read it, they understand it, they’re sophisticated. And that made all the difference. So when I sent out mailers, making certain claims about the system I’m trying to take on, there was some credibility already instilled.

In 2020 when I first launched my campaign against Scott Saiki, I put out a video to announce why I was running and I addressed it head-on. I was affected by Scott Saiki holding a press conference before the 2020 legislative session began, about not raising the minimum wage that session. And he stood by the Chamber of Commerce, who he said he met with. He did not meet with individual workers and families who are earning a minimum wage and living in poverty, having to make choices about paying their rent or putting food on their table. He didn’t talk to them. He spoke to this very narrow group of employers.

What was really upsetting was that I called my friends in the Legislature and I said, “Did he actually poll you guys, did he get feedback from you whether or not your constituents would be okay with continuing to live with poverty wages?” And my friends at the Legislature said no he did not check in with us during caucus. And so that is what actually fueled my taking on such an important person.

That was not representational democracy to me. And I kept thinking about all the people who ran for office to get into that chamber, all the sacrifices they make, asking their friends and family for money, for time, all of that. And then to come and surrender everything to a few people who have all the power and all the money. We have to change that.

What you’re describing could also apply to legislative leadership statewide. So what was it about your campaign or your district in particular that made this happen?

Well, they felt like they weren’t being heard by our representative, who happens to be the speaker of the House. The first question I would ask every neighbor who I spoke to was, “Have you ever actually spoken to our representative?” Because I explained to them that our state representative should be our closest elected official because they have the smallest district compared to the City Council members, compared to the state senators, and obviously the governor and the mayor. So they should be checking in.

I think the first year I counted five people who said they’d actually spoken with our representative. And then I would tell them how long he’s been in the House and how long he’s been representing our district. And I told them what they should deserve. I educated them about what they should be expecting. And I think over time, they appreciated how many times over the three elections I came to their door or their building.

The condo owners definitely felt like they were being ignored by the legislative leadership. They’ve been sounding the alarm on a lot of things for many years and just being continually marginalized.

And then the other group was the Ward Village Moms, who did support Saiki in 2022. He made a lot of promises to them about fixing the crosswalk leading to and from Olowalu Park. He made promises to dog lovers that they would get a dog park. And all of that took a lot longer than I think he had anticipated. Because that was not his way of engaging his district in the past. It was new to him. He thought he could just make these promises. And then two years later, still not delivered. And we looked and indeed we found video of the press conferences he held right before the election in 2022.

And then he had another press conference right before this election about Queen Street. He and the mayor, who was endorsing him. They held a press conference the day before ballots arrived in voters’ mailboxes saying, “We’re going to fix Queen Street,” after one of my videos had already gone viral about the conditions of Queen Street and after I already sent a mailer to the voters in my district, and so then they said, “We’re going to fix Queen Street. We found $5 million. We’re going to begin construction the day after the election or the weekend, the Monday after the election.”

So all of these things finally convinced them we should give somebody else a try. I’m grateful that they did give me a chance.

Just out of curiosity, did you hear from Scott Saiki on primary night?

You know, I’ve never had a conversation with Scott in all these years. It goes both ways. We’ve agreed I guess, on some level, we’ve just agreed to not necessarily … we have this kind of a different relationship. I don’t feel slighted at all.

How did it go at the Democrats’ Unity Breakfast the next day? Was it awkward for you? Did you feel welcomed?

Well, I would have felt more awkward had I lost, you know what I mean? It was definitely awkward because people were shocked, it was a shock to the system. The establishment, the whole entire Democratic Party establishment, rallied around Saiki. I mean, think about it. The historic tax cuts were to help Saiki. I mean, we have a lot of incumbents, but …

Even the $5 million to repave Queen Street, but when you actually go and see what they did, all they did was a very superficial coating of the street. But they had to do that performance to convince people that he was really going to finally fix the street. So there was a lot of waste on behalf of taxpayer dollars, just to create these election-year stunts.

Then there’s the indelible image of Saiki and the governor sign-waving right before the primary. You’re right that the Democratic establishment was coming together, and not for you. Have you heard from other legislative leaders? Are they speaking to you?

No. And I understand that Saiki is still in the building. I’m sure he’s still trying to get his people into certain leadership positions. But the important message that everyone received is that we shouldn’t go back to the same old status quo. We have an opportunity to do it so much better. We don’t have to lead and live through fear and a punitive kind of like, “If you don’t go along, I’m going have to punish you. I’m going have to make sure all your bills are killed.”

It’s really what happens when you create that illusion of untouchable power. Then we get the Ty Cullen and the J. Kalani English (bribery cases) and people thinking, because of their proximity to this kind of power base, that they are untouchable. And that’s when people act badly and are even being mean to other people, because I’m close to power and you’re not. This hierarchy, it’s unhealthy for collaboration. And I just think we’re wasting an opportunity. I don’t think the people of Hawaii are being served, to the extent that they should be. When you involve these petty politics that often centers around money, and that kind of form of legalized corruption that happens.

So yes, there are community groups who are rallying around, and I hope the media continues to put pressure on voters and on individual legislators.

Also the Foley Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct, their work was never completed. Many of the most impactful proposals that Judge (Dan) Foley came up with were ignored or watered down to a ridiculous result.

So there’s all of these little things that we need, these checks and balances. We need to say to the governor, right when we begin our legislative session, “Hey, we appreciate you have the power to veto our bills. That’s part of the Constitution. And we want to make sure that you understand — don’t take it personally — that we are going to schedule a veto override session when you veto a bill that had more two-thirds support. Because when we put so much time and energy to pass a bill by a super-majority and you veto it, and we sit by and do nothing, what a waste of resources.

You came into this race, even three elections ago in 2020, as something of a public figure, having already served as a member of state Board of Education. You also had the tenacity to try three times, and you got closer and closer, and then you finally did it. Can the circumstances that led to your victory be re-created in other districts and lead to the election of more reformers?

I think it is possible. Look at what happened with Shirley Templo and (incumbent Rep.) Sonny Ganaden. He hadn’t been in long, but she worked very hard.

And then look at May Mizuno, how she was supported by the establishment. And she touted the historic income tax cuts that the Legislature had done. And you would imagine that your district, if they truly believed that these tax cuts were going to help them, they would have supported her. But they actually appreciated Ikaika Hussey, who had run for some office in that district many, many times.

“I have reached out to people who have general elections, to see what kind of support I can give them.”

Then you look at Ben Shafer taking on (former Sen.) Clayton Hee. Yeah. That was a big upset. Clayton, he’s long-established. And and so I do think it’s possible, where people were bold.

Tina Grandinetti is considered a progressive, and she took on the candidate who was endorsed by the former representative for that district. So there’s a lot of examples of people who had grassroots campaigns who were intelligent and critical, and they don’t look like they go along just to get along.

Have you been in communication with other reform-minded candidates who are on the ballot this year?

I’ve reached out to a lot of people who, I think, have a really good heart and a really good sense of fairness and who seem to me to be authentically wanting to serve their communities. And oftentimes their communities feel very marginalized by the powers that be. So those individuals, if they are true to their commitment to their constituents and their communities, I definitely want to help them any way can.

I have reached out to people who have general elections, to see what kind of support I can give them if I feel they actually need my support. Obviously, if they’re in a really conservative district, that would be awkward, because maybe I’m coded as too progressive. And so maybe that association wouldn’t be helpful for them. And I appreciate that.

I spoke earlier about petty politics, but one thing I want to make sure is that people vote on bills the way their districts want them to vote on a bill, and that if I have a bill and you vote against that, I don’t take that personally and you shouldn’t take it personally if I vote against your bill. If I assess and I analyze and I poll my district and and I make the determination that this is a bill that they don’t want, I’m going to vote because of that. Not because you voted against my bill last session so now I have to try to kill your bill. That’s gross. And I will never hold a grudge like that kind of weird thing, and I really do challenge everyone to show more of that kind of awareness for each other and that kind of mutual respect.

Do you think it’s possible in today’s Hawaii to elect a majority of legislative reformers in the House and even in the Senate?

Yes, if the media doesn’t give up on us. You’ve done great analyses on who answered the questionnaires and specific questions a certain way. And the fact that so many of the Civil Beat and Star-Advertiser questionnaires focused on good-government reforms sends a clear message to the lawmakers and quite frankly to the voters who are reading those questionnaires, that their concerns are legitimate, their concerns about pay-to-play politics. So it’s all part of this group education effort.

In the past with some of your statements, it seems like you’ve had a real focus on the need for rule changes in the Legislature, even perhaps more so than statute changes. Are the biggest reforms going to be accomplished through rule changes or through bills?

Well, both. I think if you read the unfinished business of the Foley commission, it involves closing these loopholes for corruption. One thing that we have to look for is when we see chairs not getting a huge amount of campaign contributions, then we’ll know that the rule changes or the statutes are working. If people who have business before the Legislature don’t feel the need to to write checks to a certain few individuals, then we know that pay-to-play politics has been neutralized. Until we see that happening, to me it’s evidence that we still have pay-to-play politics, if we continue to see a few people getting all of the money.

Regarding the bills, we can’t work on substantive changes to the laws until we get the rules of engagement addressed. Otherwise they’re going to keep killing bills behind the scenes and we’ll never get to the meat of the goods that are going to help the most people throughout Hawaii in a smart, sensible way. One of the reforms I heard the community asking for is they want to make sure when legislators vote on amendments to a bill, they actually have the amendments in front of them.

Another issue is that money committees should not get referrals of bills that have nothing to do with finance, because we know they’re just using that as a bargaining chip to gain power for their certain special projects. We all know what it’s about, so why are we continuing to do that? There’s no justification to continue to do that. So the media, and then we on the inside, need to keep being truth-speakers to the public and to each other.

So there’s all these loopholes that we need to fix. And some are statutory and some are rule changes. The key is that all of the legislators vote for leadership willing to be more transparent. Then we can do better. It might be messier. I mean, the Board of Education, we operated under the Sunshine Law and under the state ethics laws. So we got things done, and so does the City Council and many of the county councils. Everyone’s operating with this transparency, and they take bold moves and they’re held accountable. We could do that too.

In terms of applying the Sunshine Law to the Legislature, a lot of people feel that the length of the session would have to be extended if indeed they couldn’t conduct the public’s business behind closed doors and had to give better notice of hearings and all that. Do you agree with that? And if you do agree with it, are you okay with a longer session?

Yes. I would be okay with that. But I also want to make sure it’s not an excuse. We can limit them if we look at how many bills come out every year. Are there things we could do on the front end to streamline things? For instance, what if every representative was limited to maybe seven bills to introduce?

I don’t recall you being enthusiastic about holding a constitutional convention when it was on the ballot six years ago. And yet, some might say that it’s the only way to get some of these major reform proposals before voters. What was your stand then, and has it changed?

Well, there’s two issues, right? One is the ConCon and one is the statewide citizens initiative process.

Can we ever get one without the other?

Interesting. That’s a good question. There’s always the concern that a ConCon could lead to a full-on gutting of the state constitution. It feels like there’s fewer safeguards there than in just having the citizens initiative option where you cannot limit the constitutional protections we already have.

“Because the Capitol is in the middle of my district, I have the unique opportunity to turn my office into the people’s house.”

In terms of a ConCon, the question would be, do we have enough citizen engagement? Are there enough citizens who are supporting what the people want to outweigh what the corporate interests want? The evidence shows that pay-to-play politics is still alive and well. I would look at that as a barometer of whether or not we had the right climate for a constitutional convention.

What will you be doing between now and January to prepare for your new role as a legislator?

I’m a community organizer and a civil rights activist, and a lot of my networks have been around building coalitions. And because the Capitol is in the middle of my district, I have the unique opportunity to turn my office into the people’s house. So I’m actually allocating space in my office, a desk and a phone line and support staff to different groups from the community.

I’m going to divide it into 10 different shifts five days a week, either morning shift or afternoon shift. And so maybe the Ward Village Moms one afternoon and the dog lovers of Kakaako another morning. And then we have people who want to promote pickleball, so there’s these unique communities that I want to make sure that they have access. The Ward Village Moms can call the the office that’s responsible for getting that crosswalk finished.

So just making sure that different city and state agencies are communicating with the consumer, with the voter. We’re definitely going to have a time slot for the neighborhood board, for Ala Moana-Kakaako, but also extended to other neighborhood boards as well, making sure they feel like they’re tied into the the resources of this office.

Is this just sharing your office space, or a stronger collaboration than that?

How can it not turn into a stronger collaboration, even among the groups? That’s what happens when you bring people closer to you instead of keeping them out. We want to really bring more people in, make them feel like this is their government.

It’s so interesting to me when lawmakers try to stand in front and say, “Oh, I should be thanked for bringing this money to my district.” But it’s the taxpayers’ money. It’s the taxpayers who should be thanked for giving a part of their income to pay for this crosswalk. We need to keep refocusing it to the contributions made by individual citizens and voters. 

“I’m incredibly honored to be part of that milestone, being a trans woman who created the opportunity for this to happen.”

And you asked earlier about bills. Definitely an empty home surcharge. I want to go through the inventory of bills passed with super-majorities that were vetoed and never overridden. Also condo owner insurance, what we’re seeing now with the crisis going on with insurance costs, and then how it’s affecting renters. My rent increased so I moved right after the election because my landlord was raising my rent because his insurance went up for his condo.

When you think about these affordable housing buildings that are now being managed by private developers, their insurance is going up and now they’re looking at all of these low-income retirees going, “Oh my God, this is the unintended expense. I’m going to have to raise your rent.” And they’re showing me the increase in their rents when their retirement income hasn’t gone up. So this insurance thing is affecting all strata of economic status and living in Kakaako. We need to lean in and actually do something about that as well.

Is there anything else in terms of government reform that you’d like to address?

No, I think we got to speak about a lot of them. Just new thoughts about leaving room for this conversation to happen. Not feeling threatened by the fact that people are talking about this. I think the past speaker and leadership would have found this quite threatening. How do we move beyond that?

I’m really hopeful that we’re going to have the first female speaker of the House in Hawaii’s history. And I’m incredibly honored to be part of that milestone, being a trans woman who created the opportunity for this to happen. So I’m really excited about that as well.

This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit .