Historic wins confirmed in final election results

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii’s fifth and final election results released Tuesday confirmed two historic outcomes in closely watched state House races.

View all Election 2026 results here.

Primary election do-over

In West Oʻahu, incumbent Republican Rep. Kanani Souza kept her District 43 seat by 103 votes, beating challenger Sheila Medeiros.

The contest followed a historic tied primary, a recount and a lauhala basket drawing that went to Medeiros.

Souza challenged the drawing, and the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court invalidated its result, resulting in a special election during the general election.

Souza received 2,591 votes (34.5%) while Medeiros received 2,488 votes (33.2%). There were also 2,411 blank votes, which Souza previously attributed to voter confusion over ballot instructions about who was eligible to vote.

Historic win in West Maui

Green Party candidate Pāʻele Kiakona won state House District 14 in West Maui, beating second-place finisher Democrat Sne Patel by 119 votes.

According to the Green Party, he is the first Green Party candidate elected to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and the first to win a state legislative seat in the U.S. since 2012.

Kiakona is a well-known organizer for Lahaina Strong, which is dedicated to helping Maui recover from the 2023 wildfires.

Kiakona received 3,025 votes (41.2%) to Patel’s 2,906 votes (39.6%). Incumbent Republican Elle Cochran came in third with 1,242 votes (16.9%).

Voter turnout

Fewer than half of Hawaiʻi’s registered voters cast ballots in the Nov. 3 general election, according to the final tally.

A total of 392,428 ballots were cast — 46% of the state’s 853,399 registered voters.

Most ballots were cast by mail, accounting for 43.9% of registered voters. Another 2.1% of registered voters cast ballots in person.