Hawaii Primary: Fil-Ams win 9 posts but lose big one

By Emmanuel Samonte Tipon

Hawaii contributor

Filipino-Americans in Hawaii might have lost the first district U.S. congressional race when State Senate President Donna Mercado Kim failed to maintain her front runner status in the August 9 primary election, but they won at least 9 state legislative and city council posts. Complete results for the Hawaii primary election may be found at http://hawaii.gov/elections/results/2014/primary/elections/results/2014/primary/files/histatewide.pdf

Winners for the State Senate were Lorraine Rodero Inouye (Big Island) and Gil S. Coloma Keith Agaran (Maui).

For the State House, the winners were: Joy A. San Buenaventura (Hawaiian Acres, Pahoa, Kalapana) Della Au Belatti (Moilili, Makiki), Romy Cachola (Kalihi), Henry J.C. Aquino (Waipahu), Rose Martinez (Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point), and Michael Yadao Magaoay (Mililani, Schofield, Kunia).

Honolulu City Council outright winner is Brandon Elefante (Aiea, Pearl City, Waipahu). He defeated another Filipino, well-known Bayle Hufana-Ablan. There are now 4 Filipino American members of the 9-member City Council.

The legislators are all Democrats and will advance to the general elections on November against the Republican winners, except Romy Cachola who had no opponent and won outright.

This was the third try for elective office of Rose Martinez, wife of popular radio host Flor Martinez. She is the epitome of the well-known adage “try and try until you succeed”. Rose was strongly endorsed by the Honolulu Star Advertiser “based on her breadth of professional experience and community service.” The Star Advertiser said that “She has been an aide and policy analyst in the Legislature; she holds a master’s degree in public health and has worked in that filed, which could be insightful on statewide health issues such as the ailing public hospital system.” Martinez faces a strong Republican opponent who is the incumbent.

One casualty was incumbent State Representative Rida Cabanilla (Ewa Beach, West Loch). Her death knell was that she was embroiled in a controversy over an appropriation made by the legislature for a foundation to clean up historical sites including a cemetery which turned out to have been controlled by her.

Filipina Marissa D. Capelouto, running as a Republican for the second congressional district, lost by 2,000 votes. If she had won, she would have faced Democratic incumbent Tulsi Gabbard, an unbeatable candidate as of now.

The loss of the congressional post by Kim (whose maternal grandfather is from Batangas) was the most surprising since she was the front runner from the day she announced her candidacy until a week before the elections when polls showed she was in a virtual tie for first place with the eventual winner Mark Takai. The margin of her loss was stunning – more than 18,000 votes. Political observers attribute her loss to “Money and Message”. She ran out of money and her message as to why she should be the representative was not as clear as Takai’s.

The candidacy of two other Filipinos for the same post it did not appear to be the deciding factor in the race. State Senator Will Espero got 4,554 votes and City Councilor Joey Manahan got 4,485 votes. Even if their votes were added to Kim’s, she would still have been about 9,000 votes shy of victory. Espero who placed fifth cannot be blamed for running. He announced early and long before Kim announced. Espero was the most articulate in the debates. The last minute candidacy of Manahan, who used to work for Kim, was questionable. He was perceived as a “spoiler” since he came from the same district as Kim. The joke before the elections was that Manahan would finish 8th in a field of 7 candidates. He finished 6th.

Filipinos might be the biggest non-white ethnic group in Hawaii – about 275,000 out of a population of 1.25 million. But those numbers do not seem to carry much political clout. It is doubtful if there are even 50,000 who are U.S. citizens. And, according to a political analyst, assuming there are 50,000 who are citizens, probably only 40,000 are registered voters. And of the registered voters, perhaps only 20,000 vote. And of the 20,000 who vote, how many will vote for the Filipino candidate?