Four of the 44 candidates in the Jan. 4 special election for the 2nd Congressional District are from Kaua’i. The race is being held to fill the district seat left vacant by the death of House Rep. Patsy Mink this
Four of the 44 candidates in the Jan. 4 special election for the 2nd Congressional District are from Kaua’i.
The race is being held to fill the district seat left vacant by the death of House Rep. Patsy Mink this year. Unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Ed Case recently won a special election to finish out Mink’s term this year.
The winner of the second special election will hold the post for the next two years.
The Kaua’i candidates are Nelson J. Secretario, a member of the Republican Party and resident of Kapa’a; Jeff Mallan, a Libertarian Party member and resident of Kapa’a; Greg Goodwin, a resident of Kilauea and Marshall Koo Koo Turner, who is running non-partisan and who is a resident of Lihu’e.
Among the front-runners in the special race are Case, state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa and former state Sen. Matt Matsunaga, all of whom have been invited to participate in a debate scheduled at the Kaua’i War Memorial Veterans Center between 5 to 8 p.m. Dec. 20.
The event is sponsored by the Anahola Homesteaders Council.
The 2nd Congressional District comprises the rural areas of Oahu and the Neighbor Islands.
Candidates for the seat need not live in the congressional district to run for Mink’s old seat, according to the Kaua’i County Elections Division office. The candidates need only to be residents of the state.
A Kaua’i resident raised the issue that candidates should be from the congressional district to run in the Jan. 4 race.
The winner who is from that district would know more about issues of that district than someone who is from urban O’ahu, the resident contended.