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Johnson, Lee hang on to win reelection to council

Latest results widen Johnson’s slim lead, narrow the gap in Lee’s race

By Melissa Tanji 8 min read

Maui County Council Member Gabe Johnson outlasted veteran politician Riki Hokama to take back his Lanai residency seat, pulling further ahead of Hokama in the third and final printout on Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson, who is finishing up his first term on the council, had 23,452 votes, or 44.7 percent, to Hokama's 20,671 votes, or 39.4 percent. He won the seat in 2020 after Hokama had to leave because of term limits. Hokama held the seat from 1999 to 2008 and again from 2011 to 2020.

There were 8,246 blank votes and 46 over votes in the race.

In another race that went down to the wire, Council Chairwoman Alice Lee squeaked out a 504-vote victory against first-time candidate Noelani Ahia. Lee had 22,682 votes or 43.3 percent to Ahia's 22,178 votes or 42.3 percent as of the third printout.

After the third printout at 12:12 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson could finally rest easy.

"Did I sleep well?" Johnson said, laughing. "I can't say I slept well, but I'm going to sleep well tonight."

Overall, he said, "I feel excited, I feel confident, I feel humbled and blessed at the same time that folks believed in me."

Johnson had been trailing Hokama by 495 votes after the first printout around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, but by the second printout at around 9:45 p.m., he had jumped out to a slim 202-vote lead over Hokama, with 15,334 votes to Hokama's 15,132 votes.

Johnson said he expected to be trailing in the first printout but added, "I didn't think it would be that close, to be honest with you." His position got stronger as the night went on.

"As it grew on, I got more confident," he said.

This was the third time that Hokama and Johnson have faced off for the seat. In the two initial challenges, Hokama was the incumbent and Johnson lost. This time the roles were switched.

"This time I had a chance to prove what I was spouting off about for all those years running for office," Johnson said, explaining the difference in campaigns.

Johnson pointed to the six bills he wrote and passed in two years, including measures to bring down the cost of homes and prioritizing locals for homes, all issues that the community spoke about.

"People recognized that, that I was listening to them and the bills were reflective of the people's concerns," he said.

Johnson thanked Hokama for his years of service, but also added that "I think people look for change and they are ready to move on to what I'm trying to do."

Hokama said he and his campaign gave their "full effort."

"I was really humbled by the support that I had, especially from my family and close friends," he said Wednesday afternoon.

"There is a sense of disappointment for those that had supported us strongly on Lanai and had asked for me to consider the opportunity again, so to them I am very grateful. I'm very humbled that I had this chance to offer service once more to the people in Maui County and especially Lanai. It was a great opportunity and I don't regret it," he said.

Hokama called it an "interesting campaign," as with COVID still around, he was not able to do as much face-to-face opportunities "the way I would like to have campaigned."

He said he found it interesting that in a previous election those on the progressive side received money from Mainland donors, but this time progressives put the spotlight on donations given to candidates from local unions with funds from local workers.

Hokama said he didn't expect to be running against multiple individuals and a "so-called unofficial party." With less funding, progressive council candidates had joined forces and resources to campaign together.

"I don't feel that was in the spirit of how the money should be spent," Hokama said.

"I thought I was running against Mr. Johnson, but when you hear the ads it's nine of them running against me," Hokama later added.

When asked if complaints over his candidacy and voter registration may have impacted his campaign, Hokama said, "yes and no."

"I don't have a problem with people questioning," he said.

"I think we responded properly and accurately to the clerk in our reply," he added of a pending complaint about his voter registration.

In June, four complaints were made against Hokama, objecting to his nomination papers and claiming that he does not live on Lanai and thus does not qualify to run for the seat. They were denied by the county clerk.

As of this week a complaint about Hokama's voter registration and whether he lived on Lanai was still pending. County Clerk Kathy Kaohu said on Monday that county attorneys were reviewing Hokama's responses to the complaint.

Her office also said that a ruling on the complaint would not affect Hokama's candidacy as the statutory deadline for those challenges has passed.

In the Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu residency race, Lee also raised complaints that she "was targeted by the coalition."

"They were angling for the leadership of the County Council," she said, adding she would not name any names or identify the coalition.

"I knew it would be close, and because I was the target on Facebook and other platforms, so people would tell me about that," Lee said. "But I did not respond or react to those, the negative publicity, and I just focused on my own campaign and I didn't really bring up any opponent or anything like that."

For the next council term, Lee said she would make herself available for the chair position again "and hope that the majority will support me."

She said for next term she would like to see the council help create economic diversity in the county and look to "green businesses and green industries." She would also like to see investment in high tech, clean industries and diversification in agriculture.

Ahia said Wednesday afternoon that she would check to see if she could get a recount, just to see what the outcome would be.

The State Office of Elections and County Clerk did not respond to questions about a possible recount. State law requires a recount of any race with a margin equal to or less than 100 votes or one-quarter of one percent of the total number of votes cast for the contest, whichever is greater. Neither appears to apply in this case.

Going into the race, Ahia said she was told it was "impossible" to beat an incumbent.

"Then last night I felt like, get chance, you know," she said. "I did, I had a chance, it was so close."

"When we say every vote matters, we mean every vote matters," Ahia said.

She said she was not surprised by the small margin between her and Lee.

"The message I was getting from the community, especially our Hawaiian community that often times doesn't come out to vote, I felt like who I am and the message I was trying to share, and the work I want to do on the council, I feel people resonate with, not just kanaka maoli but just people who want a new way to look at how we take care of our people and how we protect what we love," she said.

"People want a new perspective," Ahia said.

In response to Lee's comments about the coalition and negative comments, she said she did not see any negative social media campaigns and "vowed not to do anything negative, because I respect her and I know she works very, very hard. I can see how hard she works. I just come from a different generation and have access to different information than she had. I respect her but I never did anything negative in the campaign because that is not who I am and not how I wanted to go about this."

Ahia said she will run again for the seat. Some of her team members already said they were ready to canvass for her future campaign.

Results of the other council races remained the same after the third printout, with tallies as follows:

• In the West Maui race, Council Member Tamara Paltin won with 33,734 votes, or 64.4 percent, to Justin Herrmann's 9,887 votes, or 18.9 percent.

• In the Upcountry race, Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura won with 28,963 votes, or 55.3 percent, to Jordan Hocker's 16,407 votes, or 31.3 percent.

• In the Molokai race, Council Vice Chairwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez won with 25,396 votes, or 48.5 percent, to John Pele's 18,758 votes, or 35.8 percent.

• In the East Maui race, Council Member Shane Sinenci won with 25,285 votes, or 48.2 percent, to Claire Kamalu Carroll's 19,101 votes, or 36.4 percent.

• In the open Makawao-Haiku-Paia race, Nohe U'u-Hodgins won with 25,135 votes, or 48 percent, to Nara Boone's 19,377 votes, or 37 percent.

• In the open South Maui race, Tom Cook won with 24,656 votes, or 47 percent, to Robin Knox's 20,050 votes, or 38.3 percent.

• In the Kahului race, Council Member Tasha Kama won with 24,074 votes, or 45.9 percent, to Buddy Nobriga's 20,384 votes, or 38.9 percent.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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