Hawaiian governor wins party primary

Candidates set for November vote

Hawaii Gov. David Ige mingles with supporters Saturday at his campaign headquarters in Honolulu. Ige won the Democratic primary over U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and will seek a second term in office.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige mingles with supporters Saturday at his campaign headquarters in Honolulu. Ige won the Democratic primary over U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and will seek a second term in office.

HONOLULU -- Despite a challenging first term marked by both natural and man-made disasters, Hawaii Gov. David Ige won the Democratic primary in his bid for a second term in office Saturday, defeating U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.

Ige's administration fumbled through a false missile alert that sent the state into a panic in January, a major embarrassment for his administration. But the governor's handling of Kilauea volcano's latest eruption, as well as devastating flooding on Kauai, got him back on track, and he came out ahead of Hanabusa.

"It's been a grueling campaign," Ige said. "It's truly a heart-warming finish to a very, very challenging and exciting time."

Hanabusa, who gave up her seat in Congress to challenge Ige, thanked the people that worked on her campaign. "You've given me everything," she said.

Former U.S. Rep. Ed Case emerged from a crowded field to win the Democratic Party primary in the hopes of filling Hanabusa's spot in Congress.

Case, 65, defeated five other candidates, including Lt. Gov. Doug Chin, who is the architect of Hawaii's legal battle against President Donald Trump's travel ban.

"I think voters want Washington to work again, that's the No. 1 issue," said Case. "I was clearly saying we need to fix Washington and we need to work together, and that message clearly resonated with many voters."

Case served in Congress from 2002 to 2007, giving him an edge in experience and name recognition. He ran unsuccessfully for the Senate and House in the years since he left Congress, then retired from politics five years ago to become an executive for a Hawaii-based hotel chain.

He will face Cam Cavasso, a former state representative who previously ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, in the general election.

The candidates Saturday spanned the political spectrum of Hawaii's Democratic Party. They included Kaniela Ing, 29, a democratic socialist who hoped to follow in the footsteps of colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to score an upset victory.

Case represented the conservative end of the party, expressing concern about the federal debt and deficits. He was a member of the Blue Dog Democrat caucus during his last stint in Congress.

In the governor's race, Ige campaigned on his efforts on increasing affordable housing and addressing the state's homeless problem. Hawaii has had the highest rate of homeless per capita in the nation for many years and is one of the most expensive places to live in the country.

The next governor will also face the aftermath of Kilauea volcano's latest destructive eruption, which destroyed more than 700 homes and displaced thousands. Most of the residents displaced by the lava flows that began in May did not have insurance that would cover lava damage.

The volcano is also the most visited tourist site in the state, and the decline in visitors has caused a ripple effect throughout the local economy.

And despite better relations between the United States and North Korea, Hawaii is still a strategic military outpost in the Pacific that could be the target of foreign military threats.

Daryl Chang, a Republican who works in the medical field in Honolulu, voted for Ige, a Democrat, in Saturday's gubernatorial primary.

"I think he is thoughtful and he does what he thinks is right," Chang said.

Some in Hawaii have been critical of Ige's response to the false missile alert, but Chang, 64, said he doesn't see the governor as being ultimately responsible.

"There's deficiencies in all the departments," Chang said of the emergency department that sent the alert. "I didn't blame Ige for it."

Chang said he knows the Republican nominee doesn't have much of a chance in November, which is why he voted on the Democrat side. If he had voted within his party, he said he would have chosen state House Minority Leader state Rep. Andria Tupola, who ultimately won the GOP nomination, defeating former Pearl Harbor nonprofit CEO Ray L'Heureux and former state Sen. John Carroll.

A Section on 08/13/2018

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