Kauaʻi County, Hawaii, is entering a competitive open-race cycle for its top executive office, with six nonpartisan candidates seeking the mayoralty ahead of the state’s August 8 primary election. The race was triggered by the departure of incumbent Mayor Derek Kawakami, who is term-limited and cannot seek another term.
Why It Matters
The next mayor of Kauaʻi will inherit a list of substantial infrastructure and environmental challenges, including the pending closure of the Kekaha Landfill and an estimated 14,000 cesspools across the county that require conversion — a costly and logistically complex undertaking. Candidates are also expected to address invasive species management, hurricane preparedness, and a persistent shortage of affordable housing that has strained local communities.
Tourism pressure and community quality-of-life concerns round out the issues drawing public attention to the race, with residents signaling frustration over overtourism’s effects on infrastructure and natural resources.
What Happened
The field of six includes a mix of political experience and fresh faces: longtime county council members, at least one former Kauaʻi mayor, and political newcomers. All six candidates participated in a candidate survey, with responses organized alphabetically by official ballot name. One question in each survey was submitted directly by a constituent, reflecting local priorities such as feral cat management, immigration enforcement concerns, and overtourism.
Hawaiʻi’s primary system advances the top two finishers to the general election regardless of the vote margin, meaning any candidate who secures enough support to place second moves forward even without a majority. That structure could make the August 8 contest highly competitive if the field remains closely divided.
By the Numbers
- 6 — candidates running for Kauaʻi County Mayor
- 14,000 — cesspools in Kauaʻi requiring conversion
- July 21 — date mail ballot packets will be distributed to voters
- August 8 — Hawaii primary election date
- November 3 — Hawaii general election date
Zoom Out
Kauaʻi’s open mayoral race is part of a broader wave of competitive county-level contests across Hawaii this election cycle. Hawaii’s August primary is drawing crowded candidate fields statewide, with voter turnout expected to be a key variable in determining which candidates survive to November. At the congressional level, Hawaii’s 1st District is also seeing a generational challenge, pitting a 12-year incumbent against a younger state senator.
Cesspool conversion challenges are not unique to Kauaʻi — the issue has long been a statewide concern in Hawaii, where older wastewater infrastructure in rural and coastal communities poses environmental risks to groundwater and nearshore marine ecosystems.
What’s Next
Mail ballots will reach Kauaʻi voters beginning July 21, giving residents several weeks to evaluate the candidates before the August 8 primary deadline. The two candidates with the most votes will then face off in the November 3 general election, when Kauaʻi County will formally select its next mayor.