HONOLULU (AP) — Democrat Brian Schatz easily won Hawaii’s U.S. Senate race Tuesday, retaining the seat he was appointed to after the 2012 death of longtime Sen. Daniel Inouye.
HONOLULU (AP) — Democrat Brian Schatz easily won Hawaii’s U.S. Senate race Tuesday, retaining the seat he was appointed to after the 2012 death of longtime Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Schatz was widely favored to win in heavily Democratic Hawaii against Republican Cam Cavasso in the special election to finish the two remaining years of Inouye’s term.
“We’re thankful and gratified for the support that we’ve received across the state of Hawaii,” Schatz told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening. He called the campaign “a long road” and thanked the thousands of supporters who helped him.
“We’ve been extremely grateful for the help we’ve received, and now it’s time to get to work,” he said.
Cavasso said he hopes Schatz will work with the Republican majority Senate elected Tuesday in issues such as defense and trade that are important to Hawaii.
“I would ask the Hawaii people to consider the family and conservative values that I have spoken for in this election,” he said in a telephone interview with the AP.
Schatz has said he has proven himself in the two years since his appointment to the office by building relationships with everyone from President Barack Obama to conservative Republicans in Congress.
The 42-year-old is a former state representative and onetime chairman of the state Democratic Party who ran Obama’s 2008 campaign in Hawaii.
Steven Baqui, a 38-year-old senior project engineer in the construction industry, said because of his relatively young age, Schatz would be able to serve in the Senate for a long time, as Inouye did.
“You look at him, and how many committees is he sitting on for a junior senator. That’s got to tell you something, like they might like working with him,” Baqui said after voting in his Honolulu neighborhood Tuesday.
Schatz faced a much tougher time winning the Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in August. Inouye’s dying wish was that Hanabusa replace him, but Gov. Neil Abercrombie chose Schatz instead.
Schatz defeated Hanabusa by less than 1 percentage point after outspending her by $1 million, pouring money into TV and radio ads that emphasized Obama’s endorsement of him.
Maribelle Ganibi, 47, an accountant and self-described conservative, said she voted for Schatz because she believes he has more experience than Cavasso.
“I wanted him to stay in there, and have that time in the Senate,” she said.
Cavasso, 64, ran on a conservative platform that he described as “pro-family, pro-life, pro-small-business.”
“I want to drive the cost of living down in Hawaii to help make Hawaii affordable for all to stay and live in Hawaii Nei,” he said in a recent email to supporters.
Because Schatz was easily favored to win, he spent the final days of his campaign working on behalf of Democrats who faced tougher contests.