Galuteria, Waihee IV, Souza win 3 at-large OHA seats

A former state senator, an incumbent and a Honolulu Realtor tallied the most votes for at-large seats on the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs following the second printout with most of the general election results counted from the state Office of Elections.

The top two vote-getters in the race for three at-large seats so far mirror the results of the August primary when former state Sen. Brickwood Galuteria, 66, and incumbent John D. Waihee IV, 51, were running first and second.

Incumbent Leinaala Ahu Isa, 69, who finished third in the August primary, is polling fourth, trailing Realtor Keoni Souza by more than 8,000 votes.

On Hawaii island, incumbent attorney Mililani B. Trask has earned more than 61 percent of the vote so far over challenger Hope A. Cermelj, who campaigned largely on the issue of reducing the wait list for Hawaiian homelands.

In the at-large race, former University of Hawaii standout and Canadian Football League star Chad Owens, 40, is polling fifth followed by attorney Sam Kalanikupua King, 38, the final two at-large trustee candidates on the general election ballot.

In the August primary, Galuteria, a former chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii and a longtime radio and television personality who started at KCCN in 1980, was the top vote-getter with 17.3% of the vote. Waihee finished second with 80,491 votes and Ahu Isa third with 69,639 votes.

Incumbent OHA Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey ran unopposed in the August primary for the Maui seat and was automatically reelected. Oahu Trustee Kalei Akaka also easily won re-election during the August primary by taking more than 50% of the vote.

Their names did not appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Go to https://staradvertiser.com/election for updates, resources and live results from today’s Hawaii General Election.