In City Council races, some candidates win outright while others head to runoff

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Four candidates were vying Saturday for the City Council seat currently held by Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who ran in the hotly-contested race for Congress.

And at the end of primary election night, Heidi Tsuneyoshi was deemed the outright winner after securing more than 50 percent of the vote.

Tsuneyoshi currently serves as senior adviser to Martin.

Another City Council seat up for grabs: District 4, held by Councilman Trevor Ozawa.

He will be facing off against opponent Tommy Waters in the general election on Nov. 6 after the third printout showed him with 40 percent of the votes, followed by Waters with about 32 percent of the votes.

Things got heated between Ozawa and Waters this year when Ozawa filed an ethics complaint, claiming a city appointee used city resources to support Waters — more specifically, that she allegedly used the agency's Instagram account to "like" posts made by Waters.

Other candidates running in the primary election included Natalie Iwasa and Ricky Marumoto.

District 4 covers Ala Moana Beach Park through Hawaii Kai.

Meanwhile, City Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga secured a second term Saturday night to represent District 6, from Makiki to Aiea.

She secured more than 50 percent of the vote, beating off challenges from three other contenders.

Two candidates are also up for the District 8 seat — covering parts of Aiea through Waipahu — that head straight to the general election.

Those include incumbent Brandon Elefante and Kelly Kitashima.

These City Council candidates are running at a time when Oahu grapples with high cost of living, a beleaguered rail project, a homeless crisis and ongoing traffic woes.

This story will be updated.

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