2020 Hawaii Senate election

2020 Hawaii Senate election
14 of the 25 seats in the Hawaii Senate; 13 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Democratic hold Republican hold; No election
President before election; Ron Kouchi; Democratic	Elected President ; Ron Kouchi; Democratic

The 2020 Hawaii Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 2020 United States elections. Hawaii voters elected state senators in 13 of the state's 25 senate districts. The primary elections on August 8, 2020 determined which candidates would appear on the November 3, 2020 general election ballot.

Following the previous election in 2018, Democrats had control of the Hawaii Senate with 24 seats to Republicans' one seat.

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[1]	Safe D	October 21, 2020

Composition

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total

	Democratic	Republican
Before election	24	1	25
Not up	11	0	11

Up	13	1	14
Results	13	1	14

After election	24	1	25
Change

Summary

Summary of the November 3, 2020 Hawaii Senate election results
Party		Candidates	Vote	%	Seats

Party		Candidates	Vote	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Democratic	14	112,858	62.28	24	13	13	24
	Republican	6	56,447	31.15	1	1	1	1
	Libertarian	1	6,172	3.41	0	0	0	0
	Aloha ʻĀina	2	5,722	3.16	0	0	0	0
Total			181,199	100%	25	14	14	25
Source: State of Hawaii Office of Elections^[2]

Popular vote

Democratic			62.28%
Republican			31.15%
Libertarian			3.41%
Aloha ʻĀina			3.16%

Senate seats (up for election)

Democratic			92.86%
Republican			7.14%

Senate seats (in total)

Democratic			96%
Republican			4%

District	Incumbent		Elected Senator
2nd	Russell Ruderman	Dem	Joy San Buenaventura	Dem
5th	Gilbert Keith-Agaran	Dem	Gilbert Keith-Agaran	Dem
8th	Ron Kouchi	Dem	Ron Kouchi^[a]	Dem
9th	Stanley Chang	Dem	Stanley Chang	Dem
10th	Les Ihara Jr.	Dem	Les Ihara Jr.^[a]	Dem
11th	Brian Taniguchi	Dem	Brian Taniguchi^[a]	Dem
13th	Karl Rhoads	Dem	Karl Rhoads^[a]	Dem
14th	Donna Mercado Kim	Dem	Donna Mercado Kim^[a]	Dem
15th	Glenn Wakai	Dem	Glenn Wakai^[a]	Dem
16th*^[b]	Bennette Misalucha	Dem	Bennette Misalucha	Dem
19th	Kurt Fevella	Rep	Kurt Fevella	Rep
20th	Mike Gabbard	Dem	Mike Gabbard	Dem
22nd	Donovan Dela Cruz	Dem	Donovan Dela Cruz	Dem
25th	Laura Thielen	Dem	Chris Lee	Dem

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Without opposition, the general election was canceled and the incumbent was automatically reelected.
^ Special election called due to the death of Sen. Breene Harimoto. Misalucha was the appointed incumbent.

Retiring incumbents

Two incumbent senators (both Democrats) did not seek reelection in 2020.

District 2: Russell Ruderman (D)^[3]
District 25: Laura Thielen (D)^[4]

Detailed results

District 2 • District 5 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 (special) • District 19 • District 20 • District 22 • District 25

Source for primary results:^[5] Source for general election results:^[6]

District 2

Democratic primary

Hawaii's 2nd Senate District Democratic primary, 2020^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joy San Buenaventura	8,072	78.3
	Democratic	Smiley Burrows	2,235	21.7
Total votes			10,307	100.0

General election

Hawaii's 2nd Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joy San Buenaventura	14,225	75.2
	Aloha ʻĀina Party	Ron Ka-Ipo	4,694	24.8
Total votes			18,919	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 5

Hawaii's 5th Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gilbert Keith-Agaran (incumbent)	13,891	64.3
	Republican	Christy Gusman	6,683	31.9
	Aloha ʻĀina Party	Rynette Keen	1,028	4.8
Total votes			21,602	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 8

Incumbent Democrat and Senate President Ron Kouchi was automatically reelected without opposition, with no votes recorded.

District 9

Hawaii's 9th Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Stanley Chang (incumbent)	19,109	61.9
	Republican	Sam Slom	11,762	38.1
Total votes			30,871	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 10

Democratic primary

Hawaii's 10th Senate District Democratic primary, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Les Ihara Jr. (incumbent)	8,340	68.2
	Democratic	Vicki Higgins	2,576	21.1
	Democratic	Jesus Arriola	1,306	10.7
Total votes			12,222	100.0

General election

Incumbent Democrat Les Ihara Jr. was automatically reelected without opposition, with no votes recorded.

District 11

Incumbent Democrat Brian Taniguchi was automatically reelected without opposition, with no votes recorded.

District 13

Hawaii's 13th Senate District Democratic primary, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Karl Rhoads (incumbent)	8,264	86.4
	Democratic	Kevin "Shadow" McDonald	1,302	13.6
Total votes			9,566	100.0

General election

Incumbent Democrat Karl Rhoads was automatically reelected without opposition, with no votes recorded.

District 14

Incumbent Democrat Donna Mercado Kim was automatically reelected without opposition, with no votes recorded.

District 15

Incumbent Democrat Glenn Wakai was automatically reelected without opposition, with no votes recorded.

District 16 (special)

Hawaii's 16th Senate District special general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bennette Misalucha (incumbent)	11,508	52.7
	Republican	Kelly Kitashima	10,335	47.3
Total votes			21,843	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 19

Democratic primary

Hawaii's 19th Senate District Democratic primary, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rida Cabanilla	4,553	63.0
	Democratic	John Clark III	2,677	37.0
Total votes			7,230	100.0

General election

Hawaii's 19th Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kurt Fevella (incumbent)	12,345	58.3
	Democratic	Rida Cabanilla	8,813	41.7
Total votes			21,158	100.0
	Republican hold

District 20

Hawaii's 20th Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mike Gabbard (incumbent)	13,967	69.4
	Libertarian	Feena Bonoan	6,172	30.6
Total votes			20,139	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 22

Democratic primary

Hawaii's 22nd Senate District Democratic primary, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donovan Dela Cruz (incumbent)	8,533	85.6
	Democratic	Thora-Jean Cuaresma	1,439	14.4
Total votes			9,972	100.0

General election

Hawaii's 22nd Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donovan Dela Cruz (incumbent)	13,612	70.3
	Republican	John Miller	5,755	29.7
Total votes			19,367	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 25

Hawaii's 25th Senate District general election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chris Lee	17,733	65.0
	Republican	Kristina Kim-Marshall	9,567	35.0
Total votes			27,300	100.0
	Democratic hold

References

^ "October Overview: Handicapping the 2020 State Legislature Races". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
^ "Statewide Summary" (PDF). State of Hawaii Office of Elections. November 19, 2020.
^ West Hawaii Today Staff (May 20, 2020). "Ruderman won't seek third Senate term". West Hawaii Today. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
^ Blair, Chad (November 7, 2019). "Sen. Laura Thielen Won't Seek Re-Election To Hawaii Senate". Honolulu Civil Beat. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
^ "PRIMARY ELECTION 2020 – State of Hawaii – Statewide" (PDF). State of Hawaii – Office of Elections. August 20, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
^ "GENERAL ELECTION 2020 – State of Hawaii – Statewide" (PDF). State of Hawaii – Office of Elections. November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
^ Salmons, Stephanie (May 22, 2020). "San Buenaventura to seek Ruderman's state Senate seat". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

External links

Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Hawaii", Voting & Elections Toolkits
"Hawaii: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
"League of Women Voters of Hawaii". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
Hawaii at Ballotpedia

[unopposed-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Without opposition, the general election was canceled and the incumbent was automatically reelected.

[4] Special election called due to the death of Sen. Breene Harimoto. Misalucha was the appointed incumbent.

[cook-october-1] "October Overview: Handicapping the 2020 State Legislature Races". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved November 1, 2020.

[2] "Statewide Summary" (PDF). State of Hawaii Office of Elections. November 19, 2020.

[5] West Hawaii Today Staff (May 20, 2020). "Ruderman won't seek third Senate term". West Hawaii Today. Retrieved November 28, 2020.

[6] Blair, Chad (November 7, 2019). "Sen. Laura Thielen Won't Seek Re-Election To Hawaii Senate". Honolulu Civil Beat. Retrieved November 28, 2020.

[7] "PRIMARY ELECTION 2020 – State of Hawaii – Statewide" (PDF). State of Hawaii – Office of Elections. August 20, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.

[8] "GENERAL ELECTION 2020 – State of Hawaii – Statewide" (PDF). State of Hawaii – Office of Elections. November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.

[9] Salmons, Stephanie (May 22, 2020). "San Buenaventura to seek Ruderman's state Senate seat". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

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