WAIKOLOA—Hawaii island Mayor Mitch Roth and challenger Kimo Alameda shared their policy platforms Thursday at a Hawaii Island Mayoral Debate in advance of the marquee contest in the state’s coming general election.
The debate closed out the three-day Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s convention, “Experience Hawai‘i Island,” which drew some 2,087 attendees to the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort.
CNHA CEO Kuhio Lewis said, “I think this debate was important to hold at our convention because we need to elevate the civic engagement as part of the overall process. Hearing from the candidates is going to drive the future. We can have all these discussions in these rooms (at the conference), but at the end of the day, we have to work with these decision-makers. This was a chance for us to learn from them so we can make the right decision at the polls.”
The audience was subdued and held applause until the end of the debate. Still, the race could offer the most excitement of any other race in the general election, mostly because it was a close race in the primary.
Roth, who is running for a second term, received more votes than Alameda, his nearest challenger, in the primary election, but not enough to avoid a runoff in the Nov. 5 general election.
Alameda, a psychologist who once led Hawaii County’s Office of Aging and was CEO of Bay Clinic Health Center, garnered 26.6% of the votes, compared with 36.5% for Roth. To win outright in the primary, more than half of the votes were needed.
Colin Moore, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, expected Roth to face strong competition from Alameda in the primary and also expects a “close” general election.
During the course of the half-hour debate, Roth and Alameda talked about the importance of the pivot to regenerative tourism, a model where tourism gives as much as it takes. And while Hawaii island is often seen as the last bastion of affordable housing, they conveyed that affordability is an issue there, too.
They addressed how they would ensure equity of county resources across the vastness of Hawaii island and discussed how to handle social issues like drugs, poverty and homelessness.
Roth, a former Hawaii County prosecutor, said, “We are in a better place than we were when we started.”
Roth said his administration had decreased homelessness by 28% and increased the affordable housing pipeline from 1,200 homes to over 8,100.
“This election is not about rhetoric; it’s about actually solving problems, and that’s exactly what we have been doing on this island, ” he said. “Our permitting got better not by my words, but by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. We decreased poverty—that’s not Mitch Roth speaking; that’s the Aloha United Way talking about the ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained and Employed) numbers. Our homeless numbers went down — that’s not Mitch Roth’s numbers; those are numbers by organizations that Kimo works with and supports. We’ve doubled the amount of roads that we pave in a year.”
Alameda, whose charismatic personality is often compared to that of the late Hawaii island Mayor Billy Kenoi, focused on his generational connection to Hawaii island and his social serv ices background, which includes experience in dealing with mental health, drugs and some of the issues that cause homelessness, like broken relationships. He also emphasized that he stands for change.
“I feel for the people, and that’s why this is such a humbling opportunity for me to be able to have this experience and to possibility be your leader. That goes right to my heart because being able to serve this island is always what I wanted to do, and it’s everything that I’ve been doing so far,” he said. “I just want to ask you folks to don’t be afraid of change. I know change can be scary because it’s unpredictable. But change we must, and I’m the right kind of change. I have a team that also has the same vision, and we want to do better for this island because you deserve better.”
Moore said it was significant that Alameda secured endorsements from the two biggest public worker unions in the state, the Hawaii Government Employees Association and United Public Workers. Alameda also has obtained endorsements from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers and the Iron Workers as well as The Kanaka Movement.
Moore said Roth failed to secure their endorsements largely because he opposed COVID-19 hazard pay for county workers.
Still, Roth has secured union endorsements from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, the Laborers’ International Union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters &Joiners of America, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the plumbers and pipe fitters union. He’s also been endorsed by the Hawaii Lodging &Tourism Association, the General Contractors Association of Hawaii and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce &Industry of Hawaii.
Roth also has raised and spent more money heading into the general election. He received $310, 105.99 and spent $210,870.31, and had $99,235.68 left, according to the final primary July 27-Aug. 10 Campaign Spending Commission disclosure report.
By comparison, Alameda received $150,687.32 and spent $147,033.56, and had only $3,653.76 left.
“Money always helps, and I think if Alameda is going to run a competitive campaign, he’ll need to raise more money. I mean, just the flyers, the signs and all of that is important, ” Moore said. “But then again, politics on Hawaii island is very local, and so I think that the union endorsements are still going to be hugely important. They have the ability to turn out their members, and so that will give Alameda an important advantage even though he doesn’t have as much money.”
Moore said another important question for the general election is where the votes go that were picked up by the third-place primary challenger, Breeani Kobayashi, general manager of the Hawaii SCP Hilo Hotel, owner of Keaukaha General Store and president of the Hilo-based nonprofit Hawaii Rise Foundation.
“My sense is that Alameda will get the majority of those votes because those voters are looking for a change,” Moore said. “Roth is still the favorite. He did fine in the primary, and incumbents always have an advantage. And in this case he has a fundraising advantage as well. But no one will be able to predict the outcome of this race. I do think that Alameda stands a chance, a pretty good one. This is still an extremely competitive race.”