HONOLULU, Aug 11, (AP): US Sen Mazie Hirono and the state's incumbent congressional representatives won their races in the Democratic Party's primary election on Saturday.
Hawaii is a vote-by-mail state. Ballots were mailed to registered voters who must return them through the mail or to drop-off boxes located around the islands. Voters also were given the option to cast ballots in person at a handful of voter service centers in each county.
Ballots had to be received by county elections offices by 7 pm on Election Day to be counted.
Here's a look at key Hawaii races:
Hirono is seeking a third term after first being elected to the office in 2012 to replace Daniel Akaka, who was the first Native Hawaiian to serve in the US Senate after statehood.
She won a three-way race against Ron Curtis and Clyde McClain Lewman. Curtis lost to Hirono in the general election six years ago when he was the Republican nominee for the same seat. Lewman placed seventh in the Democratic primary for governor in 2022 with 249 votes.
Hirono became a state legislator in 1980, Hawaii’s lieutenant governor in 1994 and a member of the U.S. House in 2007.
She underwent surgery for kidney cancer in 2017, a year before she was last elected to a second six-year term in the Senate.
Former state Rep Bob McDermott beat five lesser-known candidates for the Republican nomination for Senate. McDermott last ran for Senate two years ago when he lost to US Sen Brian Schatz, a Democrat, in the general election by a 44-point margin.
US Rep Ed Case won the Democratic Party primary to represent Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District in Congress by defeating Cecil Hale.