Incumbents sweep Maui County races

Maui Mayor Alan Ara-kawa cruised to re-election Tuesday, securing 55.5 percent of Maui ballots.

His opponent in the nonpartisan race, county lifeguard Tamara Paltin, trailed with 39 percent of the vote.

Arakawa, 62, touted his government experience over Paltin, 36, a newcomer to politics who heads the nonprofit Save Hono–lua Coalition. Ara-kawa previously served as mayor from 2002 to 2006, and voters returned him to the post in 2010.

Paltin had run on a platform calling for a more community-driven local government.

“I think this is the public saying we’ve done a good job the past four years,” Ara-kawa said in a phone interview.

He said he wants to continue his administration’s efforts to better serve the public.

“I’m looking forward to four more years of making sure that we have a good government, that we’re working productively to fix systems,” Ara-kawa said. 

“We’ve been buying a lot of property along the coastlines so that we don’t overdevelop the coastline, putting in more alternative energy and reorganizing departments. Overall, we’re just trying to address the major challenges on Maui.”

Maui voters also reelected all nine incumbents serving on the Maui County Council. 

Candidates have to reside in the district, but voters countywide can vote for all of the seats.

West Maui incumbent Elle Cochran, who at one point was slightly behind challenger Ka’ala Buen-con-sejo, edged ahead to win back her seat.

In one of the more hotly contested races, incumbent Maka-wao-Haiku-Paia Councilman Mike White beat former Council member Mike Molina.

In the race for the Council’s Kahul-ui seat, another closely watched race, incumbent Don Guzman defeated former Councilman Joe Pontanilla, who had to vacate the seat in 2012 because of term limits.