In different ways, much of this weekend’s state Hawaii Democratic Party convention will be about the futures of U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.

Hawaii Democrats are meeting to ready themselves for the upcoming national convention, pick a new party chairperson and take care of other business — but the unstated agenda is the 2016 elections and precisely who is running the state’s majority party.

Leadership is a bit of a question because, while most local Democratic leaders are supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president, 70 percent of those who voted in the Hawaii party preference poll supported U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

And there is expected to be much pressure on Hawaii’s uncommitted superdelegates to also support Sanders.

Into this mix comes Gabbard, who has spent much of the presidential campaign season introducing Sanders at rallies across the country. She adds enough to the Sanders campaign that Gabbard is where the networks go for a Sanders sound bite, if the candidate is not available.

Gabbard will be speaking at this weekend’s convention as a Hawaii congresswoman, not a Sanders spokeswoman, but she said in an interview this week that she sees her mission as pushing forward Sanders’ issues of reforming U.S. foreign policy and increasing income equality and health care.

Gabbard is rejecting the idea that the big win for Sanders among local Democrats translates into the 35-year-old Hawaii National Guard major now running the local party.

“More people in Hawaii have become engaged because of these issues that they care about, so that is where my energy will be and increasing the dialogue,” Gabbard said.

Asked if she wants to be in a position to lead the Hawaii Democrats, Gabbard said, “I haven’t thought about that.”

“I am constantly using whatever platform I can to raise the issues,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hanabusa has thought about her own future, and her thoughts are turning back to Congress.

While former Rep. Hanabusa has been telling supporters this week that she intends to run for her old congressional seat, it is not clear if she will announce at the convention or afterward.

Hanabusa reports that U.S. Rep. Mark Takai called her before announcing that he would not run for reelection because his health condition has become more serious due to the discovery that his pancreatic cancer has spread.

The political reality of his condition is that if Takai cannot run, Democrats will want to quickly put up an electable candidate because the East and Central Oahu congressional district has twice put a Republican in Congress: U.S. Reps. Pat Saiki and Charles Djou.

Hanabusa, a veteran state legislative leader, had once occupied the congressional seat and left it to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.

The race for what had been thought a safe Democratic congressional seat will be a sprint. Hanabusa neatly fits the Democrats’ bill of being someone who can do the job, still has a reasonably intact campaign organization and can quickly raise campaign funds.

The deadline to file for the election is June 7 and absentee voting will start Aug. 1, so the race will go to the already prepared, which in this case is Hanabusa.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.

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CORRECTION: Tulsi Gabbard is 35. An earlier version of this story and the story on page A15 of Friday’s paper said she is 34.