LIHUE — The window for candidates to file for public office in this year’s election has closed. Thirty-three Kauai residents have thrown their hat in the ring to run for 11 state and county seats up for re-election this year,
LIHUE — The window for candidates to file for public office in this year’s election has closed.
Thirty-three Kauai residents have thrown their hat in the ring to run for 11 state and county seats up for re-election this year, including all 11 incumbents.
Twenty Kauai County Council candidates will face off in this year’s primary election, including all seven incumbents: Jay Furfaro; JoAnn Yukimura; Mason Chock Sr.; Gary Hooser; Tim Bynum; Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa.
The remaining candidates running for County Council this year are: Arthur Brun; Felicia Cowden; Bill “Billy” DeCosta; Joanne Georgi; Ron Horoshko; Joseph Kaauwai Jr.; Ernest “Ernie” Kanekoa; Arryl Kaneshiro; Sandra “Sandi” Kato-Klutke; KipuKai Kualii; Tiana Laranio; Arnold Leong; and Darryl Perry.
The 14 County Council candidates who obtain the highest number of votes in the Aug. 9 primary election — two for each vacancy — will then vie in the November general election for a seat on the seven-member board.
Three mayoral candidates — Dustin Barca of Kilauea, Debralynn “Mizdebz” DeSilva Carveiro of Hanapepe and Curtis Lake of Kapaa — will take on incumbent Bernard Carvalho Jr. in the primary election.
The two mayoral candidates who obtain the highest number of votes in the primary election will then continue on to the general election.
State seats
Unlike the 2012 election cycle when James “Jimmy” Kunane Tokioka ran unopposed for his state House District 15 seat, the five-term incumbent will be challenged by Dylan Hooser in the primary election for the Democratic Party’s general election ticket.
The winner, in turn, will then take on Republican candidate Steven Yoder in the general election.
House District 15 includes Wailua Homesteads, Hanamaulu, Lihue, Puhi, Old Koloa Town and Omao.
Democratic incumbent Derek Kawakami, who also ran unopposed for his state House District 14 seat in 2012, will face off against Republican candidate Jonathan Hoomanawanui in the general election.
That state House district includes Hanalei, Princeville, Kilauea, Anahola, Kapaa and Wailua.
The House District 16 seat is held by two-term Democratic incumbent Daynette “Dee” Morikawa. All four candidates, two Democrats and two Republicans, vying for that state House seat will face off in the primary election — Morikawa and Thomas “Butch” Kahawai for the Democratic Party and Vince Flores and Victoria “Vickie” Franks for the Republican Party — before one candidate with the most votes from each party moves on to the general election.
House District 16 includes Niihau, Lehua, Koloa and Waimea.
The last day for candidates to withdraw from this year’s election is 4:30 p.m. today.
The last day to register to vote in the primary election is July 10.
The number of candidate filings this year, according to state election records, eclipses those made during the past two election cycles, when 17 candidates ran for 12 public office seats in 2012 and 25 candidates ran for 11 seats in 2010.
