Council incumbents leading; Johnson ahead in Lanai race
It was not clear at midnight how many more votes were left to be counted
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In the closest Maui County Council race Tuesday night, incumbent Tasha Kama held a 2,485-vote lead over challenger and first-time candidate Carol Lee Kamekona for the Kahului residency seat as the 11 p.m printout.
Kama had 27,768 votes or 42.3 percent to Kamekona's 25,283 votes or 38.5 percent.
Kama is seeking her second term on the council. In 2018, she beat former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa to claim the seat.
Both Kama and Kamekona could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday night.
Kama finished first in the August primary with 15,555 votes, or 35.4 percent, to Kamekona's 10,812 votes, or 24.6 percent, and Deb Kaiwi's 8,408 votes, or 19.1 percent.
The second closest race for council was for the Molokai residency seat.
After the 11 p.m. printout, incumbent Keani Rawlins-Fernandez had 28,919 votes or 44.1 percent to challenger Stacy Helm Crivello, with 24,414 votes or 37.2 percent.
Crivello is seeking her seat back from Rawlins-Fernandez, who beat Crivello in 2018. In that race, Rawlins-Fernandez had 22,049 votes, or 43.7 percent, to Crivello's 20,583 votes, or 40.8 percent.
In 2016, Crivello beat Rawlins-Fernandez.
Rawlins-Fernandez is the vice chairwoman of the council and also heads the council Economic Development and Budget Committee.
Both candidates could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday night.
In another closely watched race to claim the Lanai residency seat being vacated by Riki Hokama due to term limits, Gabe Johnson had 29,338 votes or 44.7 percent to Alberta de Jetley's 22,690 votes or 34.6 percent.
In the primary, Johnson polled 30.1 percent, 13,195 votes, while De Jetley polled 24.4 percent, 10,693, to earn the final spot in the general election. Matthew Mano polled 20.4 percent with 8,934 votes.
For the South Maui residency seat, incumbent Kelly Takaya King had 31,304 votes or 47.7 percent to challenger Tom Cook with 23,626 votes or 36 percent.
King is seeking her third two-year term. This past term, King, as the senior member of a leadership group with four freshman council members, served as council chairwoman for one year before stepping down late last year.
Cook, who's new to the political scene, had strong backing from unions but said he won't be swayed by any one group.
In the East Maui residency seat race, incumbent Shane Sinenci garnered 30,194 votes or 46 percent to challenger Claire Kamalu Carroll with 24,281 votes, or 37 percent.
Sinenci beat Carroll in the 2018 general election, collecting 46.7 percent of votes.
Longtime Council Member Mike Molina had 38,187 votes or 58.2 percent to challenger Aja Eyre's 16,761 votes or 25.5 percent in the Makawao-Paia-Haiku residency race.
In a rematch between Tamara Paltin and Rick Nava for the West Maui residency seat, Paltin had 30,950 votes or 47.2 percent to Nava's 24,493 or 37.3 percent.
They battled for the open seat in 2018, with Paltin winning a majority of votes. During the primary election this year for the West Maui seat, the incumbent took 48.5 percent of the votes or 21,274, while Nava had 25.2 percent or 11,050 votes, enough for second place and to advance to Tuesday's contest.
Maui County Council Chairwoman Alice Lee who holds the Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu residency seat ran unopposed and so did member Yuki Lei Kashiwa Sugimura, who holds the Upcountry council residency seat.
It was not clear at midnight how many more votes were left to be counted.
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com and Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com