Woodson Hangs onto House Seat, Maui Legislative Incumbents Advance

Justin Woodson, file photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

Representative Justin Woodson will hold on to his seat in the state house following Saturday’s winner-take-all primary; while other incumbents from Maui advance in their respective races to compete in the November general election.

Woodson Hangs onto House Seat in Winner-Take-All Primary

Representative Justin Woodson will hold on to his seat in the state house after defeating former Maui mayor James “Kimo” Apana in Saturday’s primary election for the 9th District House Seat which includes Kahului, Puʻunēnē, Old Sand Hills, and Maui Lani.

The race was decided in last night’s primary, since both candidates were on the democratic ticket, and there were no challengers from other parties.

Woodson had a total of 2,030 votes or 52% of the vote, while Apana garnered 1,719 votes or 44% of the vote.  There were 151 blank votes and 3 over votes according to data compiled by the State of Hawaiʻi Office of Elections.

Rep. Mele Carroll.

Fellow Representative, Mele Carroll defeated challenger Barbara Haliniak in a vote of 2,430 (60.6%) to 1,135 (28.3%) during last night’s primary election.  With no outside party challengers for the general election, Carroll returns to the legislature to represent the 13th District which includes: Haʻikū, Hāna, Kaupo, Kīpahulu; Nāhiku; Pāʻia; Kahoʻolawe; Lānaʻi; Molokaʻi; and Molokini.

In other legislative races, incumbents from Maui earned enough votes to advance in their respective races.

Senator Gil-Keith Agaran defeated Christy Gusman in a 5,080 (57.8%) to 2,864 (32.6%) vote in last night’s primary election, earning the democratic nomination.  He will face republican party challenger Joe Kamaka whose vote count totaled 728 (71.7%) on the republican party ballot for the District 5 seat representing Wailuku, Waiheʻe, and Kahului.

Also in the Senate, incumbent Roz Baker defeated democratic party challenger Terez Amato with a vote of 2,623 (52.4%) to 2,172 (43.4%) in the District 6 senate seat for South and West Maui.  She advances to the general election where she will face libertarian candidate Bronson Kekahuna who earned 36 votes and republican Jared “Pika” Dubois who earned 798 votes in last night’s primary.

In the state House, Representative Kaniela Ing defeated democratic party challenger Marie Minichino in a vote of 2,295 (82.1%) to 337 (12.1%) in the District 11 house seat for Kīhei, Wailea, and Mākea.  He advances to the general election where he will face libertarian candidate Pat Brock who earned 21 votes in the Aug. 9 primary.

Other legislative vote counts for Maui include the following:

STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 7 – 15 out of 15 precincts reporting
(D) ENGLISH, J. Kalani 6,707 74.1%
Blank: 2,346 25.9%
Over: 1 0.0%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 8 – 7 out of 7 precincts reporting
Republican
(R) KAPOI, Cranston Kaleialoha 516 77.9%
Blank: 146 22.1%
Other: 0 0.0%
Democrat
(D) SOUKI, Joe 3,618 74%
Blank: 1,269 26%
Over: 1 0.0%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 10 – 5 out of 5 precincts reporting
Republican
(R) MARTEN, Chayne M.  387 78.5%
Blank: 106 21.5%
Over: 0 0.0%
Democrat
(D) McKELVEY, Angus L.  1,803 81.4%
Blank: 411 18.6%
Over: 0 0.0%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 12 – 6 out of 6 precincts reporting
Republican
(R) POHLE, Richard H. 460 67%
Blank: 227 33%
Over: 0 0.0%
Democrat
(D) YAMASHITA, Kyle T. 3,809 75.6%
Blank: 1,232 24.4%
Over: 0 0.0%

For complete RESULTS, visit out link at Primary Election 2014.