HONOLULU — U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz won re-election Tuesday, easily defeating his Republican opponent John Carroll in heavily Democratic Hawaii. ADVERTISING HONOLULU — U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz won re-election Tuesday, easily defeating his Republican opponent John Carroll in heavily Democratic
HONOLULU — U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz won re-election Tuesday, easily defeating his Republican opponent John Carroll in heavily Democratic Hawaii.
The win gives Schatz his first full term in the U.S. Senate.
“I am honored to continue representing the people of Hawaii, and I pledge to continue focusing on the issues that are important to our state and our country,” Schatz said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “There is important work ahead, and I look forward to serving our great state.”
Schatz had an unlikely road to the Senate. When Hawaii’s Sen. Daniel Inouye died in 2012, it was left to then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill the seat. Inouye’s dying wish was to have then-U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa fill the seat, but Abercrombie instead chose Schatz, his lieutenant governor.
In 2014, Hanabusa challenged Schatz but lost in a special election to fill the last two years of Inouye’s unexpired term.
While in Washington Schatz has introduced legislation on reducing the use of fossil fuels. Hawaii leads the nation in its initiatives to become completely energy independent by 2045.
Doug Harper voted for Schatz on Tuesday at Waikiki Elementary, citing the incumbent’s support for protecting the environment. Harper said that’s important to him because of his work as a coastal management specialist.
After Schatz defeated four challengers in the primary election, he said he wants to make clean energy the same priority in Washington as it is in his native Hawaii.
“It’s the challenge of our generation,” Schatz told The Associated Press following his victory in Hawaii’s Democratic primary. “It’s an area where American leadership is essential and we’ve made a lot of progress over the last two years.”
Schatz was part of a delegation of 10 Democratic U.S. senators that went to Paris to show their support for the 2015 climate talks and to stress the urgency of the issue.
Schatz said he will continue to focus on combatting global warming by making the United States a global leader on clean energy.
Schatz serves on the Appropriations; Commerce, Science and Transportation; and Indian Affairs committees. He also serves on the Select Committee on Ethics.
He was raised in Hawaii and was a member of the state House from 1998 to 2006. He is married and has two children.
Carroll, a longtime Hawaii resident, served as a Hawaii lawmaker five times, four in the House and once as a state senator. He owns and operates a farm on Hawaii’s Big Island and has worked for incentives in the state’s agriculture industry.
Carroll told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday before the polls closed that while he once thought no one could beat him, he was starting to question his chances.
Carroll is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, where he earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He is an Army veteran of the Korean War, was an Air Force fighter pilot and has been a commercial pilot for Hawaiian Airlines. He has practiced law in both the public and private sectors, and was a judge advocate general for the Army and Air National Guards.
