Coffee with a Candidate: Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Curtis

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Ron Curtis says he approaches everything with a practical, grounded, hands-on, “rubber meets the road” mindset.

Curtis believes his engineering approach to resolving problems makes him a good contender against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono.

Here are some things you might not know about Curtis:

• He describes himself as a common sense, moderate, reform Republican.
• Curtis worked as a systems engineer for more than 35 years.
• He was also the station manager of NASA’s Kokee Park Geophysical Observatory.

Questions for the candidate:

Why did you decided to jump into the race?

The beginning of this year I was looking at our government and I did not like what I saw. If something is wrong and you have the ability to take action, you have the responsibility to take action. So I looked for a candidate to get behind and support in this race and I didn’t see one. It was my kuleana to run myself, so I decided to get in the race.

You have never run for politics before. Why did you choose the U.S. Senate as opposed to a local race?

I wanted to best serve the people of Hawaii. I’ve only permanently been living in Hawaii since 2009, Kauai is now my home, my forever home. But I came from the Washington D.C. area and I worked there for over 29 years before moving here. Working for NASA, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture. I know that area very well, so I have a skill set that will work in D.C.

You were born without a hand. You said you were not bullied as a child. Some people might think that you would be.

I was not. I was raised a military brat, so it was a very diverse group of people from all ethnic backgrounds and religious backgrounds, but I tend to be very humorous and a class clown, and got along with everybody. It forced me to think harder at earlier ages, and to work smarter to get things done. I think that led to who I am today.

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