September 19, 2010 – Big Island of Hawaii

As the entire state of Hawaii watched Neil Abercrombie win the Democratic party nomination over Mufi Hannemann for the right to face Republican Duke Aiona in the general election, voters on Hawaii County also cast their vote for the County Council members in their district.

After primary night two of the nine seats are not yet decided. District 6 and District 5, serving Ka’u and Puna respectively, will hold a run-off election. Ka’u incumbent Guy Enriques fell behind political newcomer Brittany Smart while Puna’s two term councilwoman Emily Naeole-Beason finished the night trailing Fred Blas by over one hundred votes. A candidate needs to garner over 50% of the vote in order to win outright in the primary.

Another closer race in North Kona has been decided. Angel Pilago trounced incumbent Kelly Greenwell by over 1300 votes, and also surpassed challengers Jim Rath and Debbie Hecht to win outright. Some confusion over the application of the “over 50%” rule in this election led to prolonged hope for Hecht. However, a later clarification that the 323 blank votes – or 8.8% of the ballots cast – are not counted towards that 50% determination means that Pilago will reclaim his Kona seat without a general election contest. 

Councilmembers Brenda Ford (South Kona) and Pete Hoffmann (North Kohala) handily won their contested bids to return to office. Hilo councilman Donald Ikeda also took 64% of the vote and will return to his District 2 seat.

Councilmembers Dominic Yagong, J Yoshimoto, and Dennis “Fresh” Onishi will stroll back into their seats, unchallenged.  

* incumbent

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