Creagan beats Kapela

KAILUA-KONA — Rep. Richard Creagan fended off two challengers in Saturday’s Democratic primary election and, without a Republican candidate on November’s ballot, secured another term representing District 5 in the state’s House of Representatives.

“I decided to run again because I thought I could do a lot for my district if I continued in there,” Creagan said, mentioning his continued push for a teaching hospital and ensuring agriculture continues to thrive in the district.

“I felt an obligation to stay in there and fight for those things,” he said.

The district is a heavily rural one that runs south from Kailua-Kona to Naalehu includes Kealakekua, Captain Cook and Ocean View.

Creagan was first appointed to the seat at the start of 2014 by then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie to finish out the remainder of Rep. Denny Coffman’s term. He won his first election later that year.

In the last legislative session, Creagan chaired the House Committee on Agriculture.

In Saturday’s primary, the incumbent captured an immediate lead when returns of early and absentee ballots came in. By the second readout, released around 8:30 p.m., Creagan continued to hold a lead of nearly 500 votes over challenger Jeanne Kapela and close to 1,700 votes over his other challenger Gene “Bucky” Leslie.

Around 9:30, with seven of eight precincts reported, Kapela conceded the race to Creagan in a press release and congratulated the incumbent.

“I’m proud to have run a strong campaign for the State House,” she said in the release. “I look forward to working with Rep. Creagan to uplift our community, including improving public education funding and increasing prosperity for working families.”

Kapela said she intends to stay active in local affairs.

Looking to his next term, Creagan said he expects that the House leadership will keep him at the helm of the Committee on Agriculture calling it a “very, very important chair for our district.”

Creagan pointed to the ban on chlorpyrifos, signed into law earlier this year that made Hawaii the first state to enact a prohibition on the pesticide. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ordered the EPA to ban the use of chlorpyrifos.

“We were the only state to ban it, but our position has been amplified and enforced by the courts,” Creagan said, “so it’s likely that there will be a nationwide ban on chlorpyrifos, but we were the ones that led the way on that.”

The representative said he plans to continue looking at other pesticides, such as Roundup, in the next legislative session. The Associated Press reported Friday that a San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million to a former school groundskeeper with cancer, who said Roundup contributed to the illness.

“We’ve talked about amplifying our restrictions on some of these pesticides, and Roundup is one of the ones that we think we will have to rein in,” he said.

Creagan also said he remains committed to a new hospital in the area.

And while he said it won’t be easy to “pry the money out of the state,” he said, his goal is to also find financial support from potential donors in the area who could contribute money.

Having it be a teaching hospital, he added, is “really critical.”

“If people are taught in Kona, they’re much likelier to stay or come back to Kona,” he said. “And that’s so critical in terms of teaching hospitals.”

While Creagan said his initial decision to explore a bid for a Senate seat meant he had to “fight a little harder than I thought I would,” he was confident he was in the best position to represent the district’s constituency.

“I’m heavily invested in this community,” he said. “And I want this community to succeed and also to get the money and the benefits from the state that they deserve.”