Kim Coco Iwamoto To Take On Scott Saiki
The community activist is challenging the speaker for his House seat.
Saying she is “fed up” with the way her state representatives have “sold out the working people” of Hawaii, former Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto said Friday she will run for House District 26 (McCully, Kaheka, Ala Moana, Kakaako, Downtown Honolulu).
That seat is currently held by Scott Saiki, a fellow Democrat and speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives.
Iwamoto accuses Saiki of having “struck a deal that allows corporations to continue paying poverty wages,” she said . His plan to raise the minimum wage to just $13 hour in four years is “too little, too late.”
Iwamoto previously ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor and the state Senate.
The new candidate said she planned to aggressively canvass the district in order to register people to vote.
“I want to enfranchise people,” she said.
Asked for comment, Saiki said he is running for re-election but declined to say anything about his opponent.
As of Friday, no other candidates had pulled papers for the seat. The deadline is June 2, and the Hawaii primary is Aug. 8.
