New Names Mix In With County Council Re-Election Hopefuls

File photo.

There will be at least two new Hawai’i County Council members as the November election rolls around.

District 3 councilman Dennis “Fresh” Onishi is term-limited, leaving the council seat open. As of Friday’s campaign report issued by the Office of Election, three candidates have pulled papers for a shot at the seat, including Grace Castillo, Moana Hokoana, and Susan Lee Loy. All the three have filed their campaign paperwork, making their runs for the seat official.

District 4 will also likely see a change of face as current councilman Greggor Ilagan has pulled papers to run for the State Senate District 2 seat against current Senator Russell Ruderman and Senate hopeful Frederick Fogel. Ruderman is the only candidate who has already filed his paperwork.

In all other County Council District races, the current seat-holders have pulled and filed paperwork for re-election, with the exception of current District 2 councilman Aaron Chung, District 7 councilman Dru Kanuha, and District 1 councilwoman Valerie Poindexter, who have pulled their papers but had not officially filed, as of last Friday.

Poindexter is currently the sole candidate for the District 1 seat.

Chung is facing off against William Halversen, who filed his papers in February.

Daniel Paleka, current District 5 councilman, filed paperwork for re-election against Jennifer Ruggles, who also filed her paperwork.

Councilwoman Maile David is also hoping to keep her seat in the County Council as Richard Abbett and Fogel, who is also running for the District 2 State Senate race, have pulled paperwork for the seat. Abbett and Fogel have not officially filed.

Nestorio Domino pulled and filed paperwork in his run against Kanuha in District 7.

Current District 8 councilwoman Karen Eoff is the sole candidate for the seat. She filed paper work in February.

Margaret Wille will run for re-election in District 9. She filed her paperwork last month. Jeffery Coakley and Herbert Richard, who hope to take the seat from Wille, have not yet filed paperwork to make their run official.

All candidate hopefuls have until June 7 to file.