MILILANI, Hawaii (AP) — Val Okimoto, a mother of two, may be the Republican Party’s best hope in Democratic-dominated Hawaii.
The former special education teacher spends long days knocking on doors in the Honolulu suburb of Mililani and listening to voters fret about the high cost of living and their rising spending. She believes they are ready to elect someone like her to the House of Representatives. “There was a disconnect between the people who represent us and what I call ‘us ordinary people’ who live in the community,” Okimoto said in a recent interview.
The Republican Party currently has just five representatives in the 51-seat state house. All 25 state senators are Democrats, as is the governor and the entire congressional delegation. Shirlene Ostrov, the party leader, brings in experienced mainland staff to professionalize local campaigns and works to build its donor base and recruit candidates.
There’s still a long way to go. Republicans will contest just 5 of the 13 seats in the Senate next month and just 17 of the 51 seats in the House of Representatives. Ostrov said the party is focused on the quality of candidates, not quantity.
“We targeted districts that we could win and recruited candidates who would help us win some seats. We know that if we do this every time, we can slowly increase our numbers,” she said.
The GOP in Hawaii has struggled since the 1950s, when unions increasingly organized workers in what were once numerous sugar and pineapple plantations. Democrats first came to power in the decade that ushered in hourly minimum wages and increased spending on education. In later decades, they pursued reforms that encouraged middle-class land ownership and mandates for employer-provided health insurance.
The GOP has been associated with a pre-statehood era when white plantation owners dominated Hawaii’s economy and government. It was a time when the mostly non-white workers of the US territory fought over fair wages, education and career opportunities, and things like borrowing from banks.
Of the seven governors elected since Hawaii became a state in 1959, only one has been a Republican. In recent years, electoral losses and multiple exits from the Democratic Party by elected Republican lawmakers have further reduced the party’s numbers.
Last year, Republicans in the State House called for the resignation of their minority leader, Beth Fukumoto, after she criticized President Donald Trump’s misogynistic comments. She soon resigned from the party and joined the Democrats, leaving the Republicans with only five members.
Neal Milner, a retired political science professor at the University of Hawaii, said the party faces several challenges, including finding candidates with significant political experience and notoriety.
Bob McDermott, a Republican state representative from the suburb of Ewa Beach, says the party’s future lies with socially conservative voters in the suburbs and rural areas west of Honolulu. But, he said, the party needs to find candidates who fit their district’s demographics.
Ostrov said the party attracted a broad cross-section of the Hawaiian population.
“This isn’t your Hawaii Republican party from yesterday. It’s a very varied party. It represents all of our islands’ populations,” said Ostrov, who is Filipino. She notes that the 17-member executive committee includes one native Hawaiian, one Samoan, one Filipino, one Japanese, one Korean, one African American, and one Caucasian.
Okimoto, who is seeking a vacant seat in the House of Representatives, is part Filipino, Japanese, and Caucasian. Raised on the island of Kauai, she believes her background as a teacher resonates with voters.
Okimoto opposes “over-taxation” and abortion. She supports gay rights but rejects a redefinition of marriage. Hawaii was one of the first states to legislate in 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade, who legalized abortion. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2013.
Fukumoto represented the area as both a Republican and a Democrat.
Okimoto’s opponent Marilyn Lee – a mother of four and a grandmother of eight – represented the area until Fukumoto ousted her in 2012.
She said an Okimoto win would send “a very conservative woman” into the legislature at a time when Republican control of the White House, possibly Congress, and a new conservative majority on the US Supreme Court could mean that Hawaii needs to do more to protect women’s access to health care.
“Even though we have a Democratic majority, I think we need women who are really willing to fight for these things,” Lee said.
Ostrov said the party’s strategy for victory was simply logical and pragmatic.
“The Republican Party is focused on making incremental changes to give the state of Hawaii a choice by providing a viable two-party system,” Ostrov said.
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