Hawaii's 2014 elections U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • State Senate • State House • State ballot measures • Candidate ballot access

2015 → ← 2013

The state of Hawaii held elections in 2014. Below are the dates of note:

2014 elections and events in Hawaii
Signature filing deadline for all candidates	June 3, 2014
Voter registration deadline for primary election	July 10, 2014
Primary election date	August 9, 2014
U.S. Senate special election (primary)	August 9, 2014
Voter registration deadline for general election	October 6, 2014
General election date	November 4, 2014
U.S. Senate special election (general)	November 4, 2014
Statewide ballot measure elections	November 4, 2014

Below are the types of elections that were scheduled in Hawaii in 2014:

On the 2014 ballot
Find current election news and links here.
U.S. Senate	a
U.S. House	a
State Executives	a
State Senate	a
State House	a
Statewide ballot measures (5 measures)	a
Local ballot measures	a
School boards	d

2014 elections[edit]

Races to watch in Hawaii[edit]

Hawaii State Legislature

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See also: Hawaii State Senate elections, 2014 and Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for the Hawaii State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014. Heading into the election, the Democratic Party controlled the chamber. The following table details the 10 districts with the smallest margin of victory in the November 6, 2012, general election.

2012 Margin of Victory, Hawaii State Senate
District	Winner	Margin of Victory	Total Votes	Top Opponent
District 23	Clayton Hee	6.9%	13,035	Colleen Meyer
District 25	Laura Thielen	19%	23,036	Fred Hemmings
District 9	Samuel Slom	20.3%	24,822	Kurt Lajala
District 12	Brickwood Galuteria	29.6%	14,097	Liz Larson
District 4	Malama Solomon	33.2%	14,762	Kelly Greenwell
District 20	Mike Gabbard	43.8%	13,049	Dean Kalani Capelouto
District 18	Michelle Kidani	44.5%	20,091	Rojo Herrera
District 6	Rosalyn Baker	45%	13,525	Bart Mulvihill
District 22	Donovan Dela Cruz	47.1%	14,133	Charles Aki
District 21	Maile Shimabukuro	53.5%	10,337	Dickyj Johnson

Elections for the Hawaii House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014. Heading into the election, the Democratic Party controlled the chamber. The following table details the 10 districts with the smallest margin of victory in the November 6, 2012, general election.

2012 Margin of Victory, Hawaii House of Representatives
District	Winner	Margin of Victory	Total Votes	Top Opponent
District 45	Lauren Kealohilani Cheape	1.7%	5,166	Jake Bradshaw
District 46	Marcus Oshiro	1.7%	5,166	Christopher Murphy
District 40	Bob McDermott	2.2%	6,356	Chris Kalani Manabat
District 36	Beth Fukumoto	4.9%	10,172	Marilyn Lee
District 27	Takashi Ohno	15.1%	8,416	Corinne Ching
District 47	Richard Fale	16.1%	7,544	D. Ululani Beirne
District 18	Mark Hashem	21.7%	12,016	Jeremy Low
District 26	Scott Saiki	21.7%	6,841	Tiffany Au
District 41	Rida Cabanilla Arakawa	22.7%	7,060	Adam Reeder
District 3	Richard Onishi	24.4%	8,629	Marlene Nachbar Hapai

Elections by type[edit]

U.S. Senate[edit]

U.S. Senate elections in Hawaii[edit]

See also: United States Senate special election in Hawaii, 2014 and Special elections to the 113th United States Congress (2013-2014)

Hawaii held a special election for the U.S. Senate in 2014. The primary election was held on August 9, 2014, with the general election on November 4, 2014.^[1]

On December 26, 2012, Governor of Hawaii Neil Abercrombie (D) appointed his Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz to fill the seat's vacancy.^[2]

The special election was held to fill the vacancy left by the death of Senator Daniel Inouye (D).

On June 17, 2013, the Hawaii Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to close its primary to all except registered Democrats.^[3] Hawaii does not ask voters to choose a party when they register to vote. This was the first time any state Democratic Party had ever filed a lawsuit to close an open primary.^[4]

The winner of the contested Democratic primary was a favorite for the general election in the heavily Democratic state.^[5]

Candidates[edit]

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General election candidates

• Brian Schatz
• Cam Cavasso
• Michael Kokoski

Note: The results of the Democratic primary were initially too close to call. Colleen Hanabusa and incumbent Brian Schatz were separated by less than one percent of the vote.^[6] A special make-up election was held on August 15, 2014, for the two precincts that were forced to close the polls on the original August 9, 2014, primary election.

August 9, 2014, primary results

Democratic Primary Brian Schatz - Incumbent[7] a Colleen Hanabusa - U.S. Congresswoman, Hawaii, District 1[8][9][10][11] Brian Evans[12][13]

Republican Primary Edward Pirkowski[14] Harry Friel, Jr.[15] John Roco[15][16] Cam Cavasso - Former state Representative[17]a

Third Party Candidates Arturo Reyes[15] Joy Allison[15]

Libertarian Party Candidates Michael Kokoski[15]a

Failed to file[edit]

• John Giuffre^[14]
• John Mohr^[14]

Declined candidates[edit]

The following individuals were mentioned as possible candidates, but declined to run.

• Tulsi Gabbard - Rep. from District 2^[9]
• Blake Oshiro - Chief of staff for Gov. Abercrombie^[7]
• Ed Case - Former Representative^[7]
• Will Espero - State senator^[18]
• William Sink^[14]

Race background[edit]

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Senator Daniel Inouye died December 17, 2012, 50 years after he was first elected to represent Hawaii in the U.S. Senate. He was the longest serving sitting Senator in U.S. history.^[19] According to Hawaii law, Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) was required to appoint someone to the open seat until the special election in 2014. The appointee had to be one of three names submitted by the state party of the incumbent. Inouye gave his preference for his successor in a letter to Abercrombie, in which Inouye listed Colleen Hanabusa as his pick to replace him in the U.S. Senate. Representative Hanabusa topped the list of early contenders.^[8]

The fiscal cliff votes gave Abercrombie a very narrow window to appoint another Democrat to Inouye's seat.^[20][21] On December 26, 2012, the governor tapped his Lieutenant Governor, Brian E. Schatz (D), to fill the vacancy, denying Inouye's deathbed request that Hanabusa should succeed him.^[22]

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced on April 23 that it planned to back U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in his bid for re-election next year amid a primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.^[23] On May 7th, 2013 EMILY'S List endorsed Hanabusa over incumbent Brian Schatz.^[24][25]

1st District incumbent Colleen Hanabusa announced her decision to run for the U.S. Senate seat on May 2, 2013.^[26][27]

On May 3, 2013, the widow of Hawaii Senator Daniel K. Inouye endorsed Hanabusa’s bid against Sen. Brian Schatz (D), a move she said honors one of the late senator’s “last requests.”^[28] In a statement Irene Hirano Inouye said, “Shortly after she was elected President of the Hawaii State Senate, Dan recognized that Colleen was more than capable of succeeding him and he began to mentor her. His last wish was that Colleen serve out his term because he was confident in her ability to step into the Senate and immediately help Hawaii. I am honoring one of his last requests, and look forward to supporting Colleen on the campaign trail.”^[28]

Both candidates came to the race with their own strengths: Schatz, as an incumbent, started off with the fundraising advantage and inherited a team of national strategists and consultants to run his campaign.^[29] Hanabusa, on the other hand, is better known within the state and tapped into the network and political organization Inouye left behind.^[29]

Primary to watch[edit]

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The primary battle between Brian Schatz and Colleen Hanabusa was highlighted as one of the top five primaries to watch in 2014.^[30]

Primary vulnerability[edit]

Schatz was named by National Journal as one of the top five incumbent senators at risk of losing his or her primary election in 2014. Four of the five most vulnerable senators were Republican.^[31]

U.S. House[edit]

U.S. House of Representatives elections in Hawaii[edit]

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii, 2014 and United States House of Representatives elections, 2014

The 2014 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Hawaii took place on November 4, 2014. Voters elected two candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's two congressional districts.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
June 3, 2014	August 9, 2014	November 4, 2014

Primary: A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election.

Hawaii utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.^[32][33]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Voter registration: To vote in the primary, voters had to register by June 10, 2014. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 6, 2014.^[34]

See also: Hawaii elections, 2014

Partisan breakdown[edit]

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Heading into the November 4 election, the Democratic Party held both of the two congressional seats from Hawaii.

Members of the U.S. House from Hawaii -- Partisan Breakdown
Party		As of November 2014	After the 2014 Election
	Democratic Party	2	2
	Republican Party	0	0
Total		2	2

Incumbents[edit]

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Heading into the 2014 election, the incumbents for the two congressional districts were:

Name	Party	District
Colleen Hanabusa	Democratic	1
Tulsi Gabbard	Democratic	2

List of candidates by district[edit]

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1st Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

• Mark Takai
• Charles Djou

August 9, 2014, primary results

Democratic Primary Donna Mercado Kim: State Senate president[35] Stanley Chang[36] William Espero: State Senator[37][38][39] Mark Takai: State Representative[40]a Ikaika Anderson: Honolulu Council Member[40] Kathryn Xian[41] Joey Manahan: Honolulu City Councilman[42]

Republican Primary Allan Levene[43] Charles Djou[44]a

Failed to file[edit]

• Richard Wanda^[14]
• Philmund Lee^[14]
• Hannah Miyamoto^[45][46]
• James Brewer, Jr.^[14]

Not on ballot[edit]

• Robert Meyer^[14]
• Calvin Griffin^[14]

Rumored candidates[edit]

• Mufi Hannemann: Former Honolulu Mayor^[47]

2nd Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

• Tulsi Gabbard - Incumbent
• Kawika Crowley
• Joe Kent

August 9, 2014, primary results

Democratic Primary Tulsi Gabbard - Incumbenta

Republican Primary Marissa Capelouto[15][48] Kawika Crowley[15]a

Libertarian Party Candidates Joe Kent[49]a

Failed to file[edit]

• Isaac Johnson-Carter^[15]
• David Deuter^[15]

State Executives[edit]

State executive official elections in Hawaii[edit]

See also: Hawaii state executive official elections, 2014 and State executive official elections, 2014

Two state executive positions were up for election in 2014 in the state of Hawaii.

The following offices were elected in 2014 in Hawaii:

• Governor of Hawaii
• Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

List of candidates by office[edit]

Governor[edit]

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General election[edit]

Duke Aiona/Elwin Ahu^[50]
David Ige/Shan Tsutsui^[51]
Jeff Davis/Cindy Marlin^[52]
Independent Party candidates Mufi Hannemann/Les Chang^[53]

Lost in the primary[edit]

Gubernatorial[edit]

Neil Abercrombie - Incumbent^[54]
Van Tanabe^[55]
Charles Collins - Retired businessman, artist, frequent candidate^[55]
Stuart Gregory - Frequent candidate^[55]

Lieutenant gubernatorial[edit]

Clayton Hee - State Sen.^[56]
Sam Puletasi - State Medical Board Member^[55]
Miles Shiratori - Lifeguard, Real Estate Investor^[55]
Mary Zanakis - Television documentary producer^[57]
Kimo Sutton^[58]

Disqualified[edit]

(nonpartisan) Misty Davis^[59]
(nonpartisan) Khistina Dejean^[59]
(nonpartisan) Richard Morse, Jr.^[59]

Withdrawn[edit]

(nonpartisan) Joe Spatola - Entertainer^[59]

Lieutenant Governor[edit]

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General election[edit]

Shan Tsutsui - Incumbent
Elwin Ahu^[55]
Les Chang^[55]
Cindy Marlin^[60]

Defeated in primary[edit]

Clayton Hee - State Sen.^[61]
Sam Puletasi - State Medical Board Member^[55]
Miles Shiratori - Lifeguard, Real Estate Investor^[55]
Mary Zanakis - Television documentary producer^[62]
Kimo Sutton^[63]

State Senate[edit]

State Senate election in Hawaii[edit]

See also: Hawaii State Senate elections, 2014 and State legislative elections, 2014

Elections for the Hawaii State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014.

Majority control[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Heading into the November 4 election, the Democratic Party held the majority in the Hawaii State Senate:

Hawaii State Senate
Party		As of November 3, 2014	After November 4, 2014
	Democratic Party	24	24
	Republican Party	1	1
Total		25	25

List of candidates by district[edit]

District 1 • District 3 • District 4 • District 6 • District 7 • District 12 • District 16 • District 17 • District 18 • District 21 • District 23 • District 24

State House[edit]

State House elections in Hawaii[edit]

See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2014 and State legislative elections, 2014

Elections for the Hawaii House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014.

Majority control[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Heading into the November 4 election, the Democratic Party held the majority in the Hawaii House of Representatives:

Hawaii House of Representatives
Party		As of November 3, 2014	After November 4, 2014
	Democratic Party	44	43
	Republican Party	7	8
Total		51	51

List of candidates by district[edit]

District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17 • District 18 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22• District 23 • District 24 • District 25 • District 26 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29 • District 30 • District 31 • District 32 • District 33 • District 34 • District 35 • District 36 • District 37 • District 38 • District 39 • District 40 • District 41 • District 42 • District 43 • District 44 • District 45 • District 46 • District 47 • District 48 • District 49 • District 50 • District 51

Statewide ballot measures[edit]

Statewide ballot measure elections in Hawaii[edit]

See also: Hawaii 2014 ballot measures and 2014 ballot measures

Five statewide ballot measures were certified for the 2014 statewide ballot in Hawaii.

On the ballot[edit]

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November 4:

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Amendment 1	Judiciary	Requires the disclosure of names of nominees for appointment to state courts	a
LRCA	Amendment 2	Bonds	Authorizes the issuance of bonds for agricultural enterprises	a
LRCA	Amendment 3	Judiciary	Increases the mandatory age of retirement for judges and justices to 80	d
LRCA	Amendment 4	Education	Permits the appropriation of public funds for private early childhood education programs	d
LRCA	Amendment 5	Bonds	Authorizes the issuance of bonds for loan assistance to dam and reservoir owners	a

Local ballot measures[edit]

Local ballot measure elections in Hawaii[edit]

See also: Local ballot measures, Hawaii and Local ballot measure elections in 2014

Elections by date[edit]

Click below for more information about local ballot measure elections on:

• November 4, 2014

...click here for more 2014 Hawaii local measures.

Voting in Hawaii[edit]

See also: Voting in Hawaii

Important voting information[edit]

• A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election.

Hawaii utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.^[64][65]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

• Hawaii passed legislation in 2012 authorizing online voter registration, but a system has not yet been implemented.

Voting absentee[edit]

See also: Absentee voting by state

For information about eligibility, deadlines, military and overseas voting and updates to the voting laws in Hawaii, please visit our absentee voting by state page.

Voting early[edit]

See also: Early voting

Hawaii is one of 34 states that permits early voting with no specific restrictions as to who can vote early. Early voting begins 14 days before an election and ends three days prior to Election Day.^[66]

Elections Performance Index[edit]

See also: Pew Charitable Trusts' Elections Performance Index

Hawaii ranked 45th out of the 50 states and District of Columbia in the Pew Charitable Trusts' Elections Performance Index (EPI), based on the 2012 elections. The EPI examined election administration performance and assigned an average percentage score based on 17 indicators of election performance. These indicators were chosen in order to determine both the convenience and integrity of these three phases of an election: registration, voting and counting. Hawaii received an overall score of 54 percent.^[67]

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

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