Moderate Democratic Representative Ed Case has defeated a progressive challenger to retain his party's nomination for Hawaii's first congressional district.
Primary victory
Case, who has represented the district in Washington DC since 2019, beat state senator Jarrett Keohokalole in Saturday's primary. With 91% of votes counted, Case won 60% of the vote, according to the Associated Press. Keohokalole had 36.1%.
“I feel very grateful that the voters want me to continue in office,” Case, 73, told Hawaii Public Radio on Saturday. He will face Republican Adriel Lam, who ran unopposed, in the general election.
Progressive wave
The win comes amid a wave of leftwing candidates sweeping through Democratic primaries, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan this week. Focus now turns to Wisconsin, where Democratic socialist Francesca Hong leads the party's gubernatorial primary.
Campaign issues
Keohokalole, 43, had argued that Hawaii needed a new generation of political leadership. He highlighted Case's campaign donations from businesses to claim Case had lost touch with voters.
Case faced criticism for voting last year for Donald Trump's Save Act, which would require voters to prove citizenship when registering for federal elections. He later stressed he no longer supported the legislation after an option for written attestation was removed, but used the vote as an example of his independence: “I'm not 100% voter with my party. Never have been, never will be.”
Other races
Case holds a senior position on a key spending committee and argued Hawaii would attract fewer federal dollars if he lost. Keohokalole respected the outcome: “The voters decided, and we respect the results. The seats don't belong to any individual. You have to earn them, and so the voters spoke.”
In the second district, Jill Tokuda won the Democratic primary with 91.6% of the vote. Governor Josh Green also defeated several challengers for the Democratic nomination.
