LIHU‘E — And then there were 14.
The crowded field in the county council race was whittled down slightly after the primary election Saturday, with five of 19 candidates eliminated, according to preliminary results.
Clint Yago Sr., Jakki Nelson, Rosemarie Jauch, Jeffrey Lindner and James Langtad all finished with less than 1% of the vote, and appear as though they will not be heading to the general election.
Incumbent County Council Member and former Mayor Bernard Carvalho was the top vote-getter with 7,599 votes (7.6%), trailed by county council member Luke Evslin with 7,540 votes (7.6%).
“I’m a young person who has really struggled with the cost of housing and I see my generation and the next generations getting decimated by the housing crisis— I think people see that I’m relentlessly focused on housing and doing all that I can to works towards solutions,” said Evslin after results were released.
Turnout was low this year with only 29.7% of registered voters casting ballots, almost entirely by mail.
Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa, both former council members looking to reclaim seats, performed well with 6,797 votes (6.8%) and 6,363 (6.4%) respectively.
“In the general things are different. A lot of people decide, I’m going to vote. From fourth place down, still we’re not comfortable,” said Kagawa. “I want to get in and address the housing and landfill issues we’re facing.”
Chiropractor Addison Bulosan was the lone candidate who has not already served on council to place in the top seven grabbing sixth place with 5,774 votes (5.8%).
Generally, incumbents fared well in the race with council member KipuKai Kuali‘i in fourth place with 6,678 votes (6.7%) and council member Billy DeCosta finishing seventh with 5,537 votes (5.6%).
“It seems to be a competitive race,” said DeCosta. “I want to thank all who voted in this primary election and I hope more turnout in the general.”
Slipping outside of the top seven was incumbent council member Felicia Cowden, who garnered 5,291 votes (5.3%).
Rounding out the top 10 are Environmental Scientist and Community Organizer Fern Anuenue Holland with 3,183 votes (3.2%) and Shirley Simbre-Medeiros with 2,067 votes (2.1%).
