Of the four Hawaii County Council Primary Election races in West Hawaii, three incumbents won their seats outright Saturday night, while a fourth race will go to a General Election runoff on Nov. 5.
The race to be decided in November will be for representation of Council District 9, which encompasses North Kohala and parts of Waimea and Waikoloa.
In that race, challenger James Hustace received 2,026 votes or 43.55%, a lead of more than 200 votes over incumbent Cindy Evans, who received 1,805 votes or 38.8% of the valid votes cast. In third place was Michael Konowicz, with 821 votes or 17.65%.
“I feel gratitude. I feel very comfortable with where we’re at,” said Evans. “It’s been a great campaign period; we’ve had a lot of dialogue. And if we have a runoff, that will be a chance to continue the discussion, because during a campaign is when the public weighs in on what their priorities are.”
Evans, 72 — who spent 16 years in the state House and is seeking her second council term — said those priorities are “housing and making sure the economy is really good.”
“I think it’s focusing on the middle class, which comes down to reasonable wages, lowering the cost of living and the ability of them to reach the dream of owning your own home.
“So, we’ve got our challenges ahead of us.”
The Tribune-Herald reached out to Hustace, but he didn’t return a call in time for this story.
In Council District 6, Michelle Galimba was reelected to her District 6 council seat, garnering 2,333 votes, 56.2% of the valid votes cast. Ikaika Kailiawa-Smith was second with 1,190 votes, or 28.67%, Kyle Jones third with 409 votes or 9.85%, and Marie Burns in fourth with 219 votes or 5.28%
It’ll be Galimba’s second term representing a district which spans from South Kona across the southern end of the island and up into Volcano.
“I’m feeling very grateful for the folks in my district for their faith in me and their confidence,” Galimba said. “I’m looking forward to serving them even better in the next term.”
Galimba, a 56-year-old rancher, said the priorities in her district “are a little different from other districts.”
“One of the problems I’ve been focusing on is animal control,” she said. “We’ve got a pretty bad dog situation in some of the communities, and animal issues in general. It’s something I think we’re getting closer to fixing.
“But in the longer term, it’s about affordable housing overall for the island, for the county. We definitely need to have more affordable housing for folks closer to where they work.”
In Council District 7, which has portions of both North Kona and South Kona, Rebecca Villegas was elected to a fourth term — the last consecutive term she can legally serve — fending off four challengers to receive more than half of the valid ballots cast in Saturday night’s primary.
Villegas, 50, of Kailua-Kona, garnered 2,063 votes, or 55.47%.
Zazh HewLen was a distant second, with 497 votes, or 13.36%, Wesley Moore finished third with 437 votes or 11.75%, Joshua Montgomery fourth with 387 votes or 10.41%, and Jennifer Wilkinson fifth, with 335 votes or 9.01%.
The most lopsided race in West Hawaii was in District 8, where Holeka Inaba will represent the district — which runs from North Kona north of Nani Kailua Drive to a portion of Waikoloa — for a third term.
The 30-year-old Inaba received 2,040 votes, or 71.42% of the valid votes cast, to 817 votes, or 28.58% for Caryl Burns.
Email John Burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
