On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden spoke in Washington, D.C., at the congressional memorial for the late U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, who died of pancreatic cancer, saying, “His dignity was palpable.”

Takai’s death, nine months after diagnosis, has triggered one of the nation’s most low-key and civilized partisan political races. The Republican is former Air Force Col. Shirlene Ostrov. The Democrat is former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.

Unlike the daily barrage of attacks, slaps and venom on the presidential campaign level, the two Hawaii women running for Takai’s urban Honolulu 1st Congressional District are all about the issues.

“We have had two neighborhood board appearances; we are introduced and get five minutes to talk,” said Hanabusa, the former congresswoman who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2014.

She is a former state Senate president and is currently chairwoman of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

Hanabusa’s handling of the city’s wayward rail transit project that is both over budget and years late has been given high marks by both rail supporters and critics — so Hanabusa reports that although she comes to talk to voters about national issues and Congress, “almost everyone just has something to say about rail.”

Facing a well-known Democrat, Ostrov has to both introduce herself to voters but also convince them that in Democratic Hawaii, it is OK to vote for a Republican.

“I was born and raised in Hawaii, grew up in Mililani, served 24 years in the military, retired, started my own business, and I paid attention to politics with great interest,” Ostrov said in an interview.

Ostrov said she is running because Hawaii is not well represented in Washington with a congressional delegation made up of only Democrats.

If the majority in Congress is Republican, she reasoned, it makes sense to have someone in Congress who is a Republican.

The big issue is not so much Republican or Democrat, but the GOP’s divisive nominee, Donald Trump. Ostrov acknowledged it, saying she will vote for him.

“I know his presidency is a challenge for a lot of people; both candidates are a challenge,” Ostrov said.

Hanabusa, however, predicted that because Trump’s negatives are so high, few voters will turn out.

“Donald Trump has so polarized and gutted the Republican Party that there is no single issue left for Republicans to rally around — from foreign affairs or the military or domestic policy. It will be devastating for Republicans,” she predicted.

While Hanabusa is the odds-on favorite to return to Congress, there have been political rumors that she was also interested in running for governor in two years.

When asked about it this week, Hanabusa said she was running for Congress, but would decide her political future in the future.

“My purpose is to serve the people of Hawaii. Right now I best serve by running for this office and returning to Washington and continue projects I had started as part of the delegation.”

But Hanabusa said, “I am not ruling anything out in the future.”

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