WAILUKU — Longtime Native Hawaiian kalo farmer Bobby Pahia is making a bid for the Upcountry seat on the Maui County Council that will be vacant with incumbent Yuki Lei Sugimura running for mayor.

Flanked by family, friends and supporters that included two current Maui County Council members, Pahia announced his candidacy on Wednesday. He raised concerns about local people being priced out of Hawai‘i by high food costs and a lack of affordable housing.

“I’m a farmer who has dedicated my life to ensuring our people have food on the table,” Pahia said. “I’ve witnessed the environmental changes and said goodbye to too many people unable to survive here.

“I’m running to restore our connections to ʻāina and community. To fulfill our shared vision of a Maui Nui where generationally-rooted families stay and our people prosper.”

The 70-year-old founder of the Hawai‘i Taro Farm is among the earliest to announce his candidacy for the open seat on a council that’s long been seen by the public as a 5-4 split between progressives and moderates, with the latter currently in the majority. Sugimura is seen as a moderate, and Pahia said he believes the Upcountry race would “definitely impact the balance” of the council.

When asked if he saw himself aligning with the council’s more progressive members, he said “probably.”

“I’m not going to stand up for corporate interests versus the community,” Pahia told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative as he waved signs with supporters after his campaign announcement. “I will always stand with the community.” 

On the county building’s front lawn Wednesday, County Council members Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Gabe Johnson, both progressive, stood behind Pahia in support.

Johnson told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative that he’s advocating for Pahia because the two are both farmers with the experience of feeding and caring for the community, and “that’s very similar to this job in many ways.” Johnson also liked Pahia’s focus on “fighting for the people instead of corporate extraction.”

As for how the race could impact the power balance, Johnson said “everything is not black and white like that.” He pointed out that he’s watched more fiscally conservative council members back funding requests such as the $12 million in this year’s budget for a program to help asset-limited, income-constrained, employed (ALICE) households.

“At the end of the day, we want conscious, thoughtful people with lived experience on the council,” said Johnson, who plans to announce his reelection campaign for the Lāna‘i residency seat around his birthday in March. “… If there’s something contentious, the votes will fall where they may, but I think now all of us on the council should be thinking about what’s helping our community. Where we get there, that’s the divide, and there’s many paths to get to that.” 

Rawlins-Fernandez said via text that she backs Pahia because he “is a leader deeply rooted in Maui County who has cultivated decades of relationships” and has an endearing nature that brings people together.

“With councilmembers already announcing their departure from the council, I anticipate an interesting new mix of ideas, and particularly look forward to Uncle Bobby’s wisdom from years on the ‘āina,” Rawlins-Fernandez said, pointing to Pahia’s work as a mentor to other farmers, a small business owner and a community advocate.

Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee, who holds the Wailuku-Waihe‘e Waikapū seat, said Pahia likely “won’t be the only one” running for the seat. She said she knows of several other people weighing a bid, adding:  “I’m looking forward to watching that race.”

Lee said the potential power shift is something that comes with every election. When she was elected to the council in 2018, she was in the minority with other moderates before that shifted in the next elections.

“When you’re in the minority, you don’t get to choose committees, etc.,” Lee said. “But that’s how it is, you just have to accept it. … It’ll go back and forth. But we do come together on a lot of issues. We may disagree on some major issues, but we also agree on a lot of issues.”

Council members don’t always vote with the same bloc, but the current split has factored into key moments such as the election of the council’s leadership, and a decision on the replacement for the late Council Member Tasha Kama after her death in October. Mayor Richard Bissen nominated Kauanoe Batangan after the council deadlocked on her successor. 

Pahia said he would’ve run even if Sugimura didn’t declare her candidacy for mayor. He said he’s been “standing on the sidelines” for a long time watching Hawai‘i go through changes, and now he’s ready to jump into the fray. He’s especially concerned with the cost of living and lack of affordable housing that’s priced people out of the islands.

“I believe that the answer to that is empowering our community through active civic engagement,” Pahia said. “The democratic process of creating policies only works through community participation.”

Pahia, who grows kalo on about 300 Waikapū acres that he leases from developer Mike Atherton, said he considers himself an advocate of the aloha ‘āina movement and will stand on a platform of protecting the environment, particularly Maui County’s watersheds and aquifers, as well as the prioritization of community over corporate interests.  

“All wealth and survival is based on water,” Pahia said. “And then you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Why do these corporations go after the control of water?’ Because you control water, you control the entire economic base.”

Another cornerstone of his platform will focus on fire mitigation practices that will protect Maui’s communities from a repeat of the destructive August 2023 wildfires in Lahaina and Kula, he added.

Pahia said his time as a farmer has prepared him for office by teaching him how to be a jack of all trades — a carpenter, mechanic, meteorologist, economist and scientist all in one — and demonstrated the importance of food security and water conservation. He currently represents Upcountry on the Aha Wai O Maui Hikina, East Maui Regional Community Board that was created by a charter amendment in hopes of giving the East Maui community more control over water resources in the area.

Pahia was born on O‘ahu and graduated from Castle High School in 1973 before moving to Maui in 1980. He worked as an agricultural research technician for the Kula Ag Research Center under the University of Hawai‘i’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources for 19 years, and has been farming kalo at his current farm in Waikapū for nine years. 

He’s also done electrical work for his brother’s contracting business and built homes for Habitat for Humanity. The nonprofit built the home he now lives in today. 

A member of the Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, Pahia hopes to add a Native Hawaiian voice to the council but added that he grew up with friends of all backgrounds and would listen to everyone’s input. 

“I take a position of being inclusive, not exclusive,” he said.

The first day for candidates to pick up nomination papers is approaching on Feb. 2, with the filing deadline at 4:30 p.m. on June 2, according to the County Clerk’s Office. The primarily election will take place on Aug. 8 and the general election on Nov. 3.

Candidates must make an appointment to file a completed application by contacting the Elections Division of the Maui County Clerk’s Office at (808) 270-7749.