LIHUE — The primary election saw the incumbent for the Kauai Office of the Prosecuting Attorney grab hold of the Kauai votes early on and never let go. Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar received 7,714 votes or 50.5 percent of total
LIHUE — The primary election saw the incumbent for the Kauai Office of the Prosecuting Attorney grab hold of the Kauai votes early on and never let go.
Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar received 7,714 votes or 50.5 percent of total votes Saturday night, while challenger Lisa Arin received 5,358 votes or 35.1 percent of total votes by the end of the night.
“It’s very humbling to have this kind of result in the primary, and I am grateful to have the community’s trust,” Kollar said.
He called election night a “nerve-wracking experience.”
“When the first printout comes in, of course it’s nice to see a lead, but a lot can change between the first and third printouts, we saw that in the County Council races two years ago.” he said. “So you can’t take anything for granted until all the votes are counted.”
Kollar said his campaign still has a lot of work to do in the coming months before the general election in November.
“I am looking forward to knocking on doors and talking to folks in the community about their concerns and ideas,” he said. “Between now and the general election we have to keep working hard to show people in the community why we deserve their votes. We have to be humble and reach as many people as we can to spread our message. Turnout was very low in the primary; reaching the people and getting them to vote will take a lot of reaching out and one-on-one personal interaction and in the coming weeks we’re going to do our best to reach everyone in the community.”
Turnout of registered voters on Kauai was 35 percent.
Although Arin’s numbers were lower than Kollar’s, Arin said she is grateful for the support the voters have shown in the primary.
“For a candidate who was unknown a year ago, who has never run for office, who has depended on grass roots support, for us to get 5,358 votes in the first round of this election cycle is a tremendous accomplishment that shows we have the momentum to take this all the way in November,” she said. “Our supporters have a lot of heart and I owe all of this to them and to my hard working, dedicated team of campaign volunteers. Together we can get our message to all of the voters that we have the experience, commitment, and leadership to build a strong, stable and effective Prosecutor’s Office to make Kauai safe.”
Kollar and Arin go head-to-head in the general election on Nov. 8.
