Hawaii Democratic primary winners favored in November

HONOLULU — The winners of most of the Democratic Party’s primary races in Hawaii this weekend will be the favorites to win the general election in November.

The most hotly contested matches in this deep blue state on Saturday are for governor and the state’s 1st Congressional District. Polls closed at 6 p.m. local time.

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is challenging one-term incumbent Gov. David Ige in the gubernatorial primary. T

he move has echoes of four years ago when Ige, then a state senator, challenged and defeated a sitting governor, Gov. Neil Abercrombie, in the primary.

Both Hanabusa and Ige are experienced, longtime politicians in Hawaii, leading to a close race.

Jinjer Boots, 26, a Democrat, voted for Hanabusa. As she left her polling place Saturday with her daughter, Cataleia, 3, Boots said Hanabusa is fighting for women’s rights and that was a major factor for her.

“I like that she fights for women’s rights,” she said. “I do think that she will speak up more for us, with Ige he was very quiet.”

Boots described herself as a working-class Honolulu resident who has lived in the islands her entire life. She said she was terrified by January’s false missile alert.

“I thought I was going to die,” Boots said. “I thought about how she’s not going to grow up,” she said of her daughter and the possibility of a nuclear attack.

Three Republicans, including House Minority Leader state Rep. Andria Tupola, are vying for the Republican nomination. Former Pearl Harbor nonprofit CEO Ray L’Heureux and former state senator John Carroll are the other two.

Daryl Chang, a Republican who works in the medical field in Honolulu, voted for a Democrat in Saturday’s gubernatorial primary.

“I voted for Ige” Chang said. “Ige is quiet,” Chang said. “I think he is thoughtful and he does what he thinks is right.”

Some in Hawaii have been critical of Ige’s response to the false missile alert, but Chang, 64, said he doesn’t see the governor as being ultimately responsible.

Caleb Jones The Associated Press Jinjer Boots, 26, of Honolulu, and her daughter, Cataleia Boots, 3, leave a polling station after voting Saturday in Hawaii’s primary election.