Tina Wildberger, owner of Kihei Ice Inc., has won the state House District 11 seat vacated by Rep. Kaniela Ing, who left to run unsuccessfully for Congress.

Wildberger had 2,101 votes or nearly 55 percent of the vote, compared to former Maui County Council Member Don Couch with 1,456 votes or almost 38 percent. Third in the Democratic race was special education paraprofessional Lee Myrick with 156 votes. The vote total did not include hundreds of absentee votes.

Wildberger, 53, automatically takes the seat representing Kihei, Wailea and Makena. Nonpartisan candidate Daniel Kanahele, did not receive 10 percent of the vote nor did he receive votes equal to or greater than the nominated partisan candidate to advance to the November general election.

“I’m shocked. It’s all very surreal,” Wildberger said over the phone as she learned of the 10 p.m. results with all precincts reporting. “I’m so happy. I’m so happy I have the support of my community. Honestly, it’s about the people in South Maui. It’s about building a bridge. We can have environmental advocacy, and we can have economic development. We can have everything our community needs.”

Wildberger, who was at the Kihei Caffe with supporters, said people need to be listened to, to see what they want.

“We can make it happen,” she said.

After the first printout, Wildberger said she was in the car with her husband, who was driving her to an interview at Akaku when people began to call to share news of her early lead.

“I got text like wildfire on my way to Akaku. My phone is blowing up,” she said.

After the first printout, Wildberger was in the lead by 331 votes.

“I worked very hard to get my message out. I took nothing for granted,” Wildberger said after the first printout. “Don (Couch) has been a longtime community participant, advocate and council member.”

In the House District 8 seat, 30-year-old Troy Hashimoto will be sent back to Honolulu. He had 3,178 votes or 52 percent with all precincts reporting, although the count did not reflect more than several hundred absentee ballots yet to be counted as of 10:07 p.m.

Hashimoto, a former executive assistant to Maui County Council Chairman Mike White, will assume the seat formerly occupied by House Speaker and longtime representative Joe Souki, who resigned earlier this year amid sexual harassment allegations. In April, Hashimoto was appointed to the seat by Gov. David Ige. The district serves residents from Waikapu to Kahakuloa.

Second in the race was former Maui County Council member Dain Kane, with 1,965 votes. Third was information technology manager Mary Wagner with 419 votes. Fourth was Justin Hughey, a special education teacher and former Hawaii State Teachers Association vice president, with 381 votes.

“I’m very humbled by the voters,” Hashimoto said after the 10 p.m. printout. “I’m prepared to work very hard for the community.” That includes listening to their concerns and being there for his constituents, he said.

“The real work begins,” he added.

Hashimoto said he thinks being appointed to the seat helped his campaign initially, but said he did a lot of work to build on that.

“I think we put in a lot of sweat equity. We walked the district a whole lot,” he said.

Hashimoto said he spoke to a lot of constituents one-on-one, feeling that he needed to have people understand what he was all about.

“Troy Hashimoto did a fabulous job working really hard to earn the votes of our district,” Kane said. “I called him earlier to congratulate him and I think he’ll do a great job. I think the people in this district will be represented very well.

“It’s not my time. It’s his time, and I think the people will be happy with his service.”

* Staff Writer Chris Sugidono contributed to this report. Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com and Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.