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 Join the Discussion The man who represents Hawaii Republicans’ best hope to pick up a congressional seat has a 4 percentage point lead over his Democratic opponent. Charles Djou leads Mark Takai 46 percent to 42 percent in Civil Beat’s latest poll. Just 12 percent of voters are undecided. The state has only sent three Republicans to Washington, D.C., since statehood in 1959, and Djou, a former state legislator and a former Honolulu City Councilman, is one of them. He won a special election to replace Neil Abercrombie in 2010 when the longtime congressman resigned to run successfully for...

The senior senator who once told New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand not to lose "too much weight" because he liked his girls "chubby" was the late Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, the New York Times reports. In a memoir published earlier this month, Gillibrand revealed that some of her male colleagues in Congress felt free to comment about her weight. “Don’t lose too much weight now," one "of my favorite older members of the Senate" told her, squeezing her waist. "I like my girls chubby!”

A Colorado couple are suing the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa, alleging that the resort had a bedbug problem and failed to tell them about it last year when they stayed at the hotel. Aaron and Sharon Tucker of Aurora County, Colorado, booked their stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on July 30, 2013, and were not told about a bedbug infestation, they said in the lawsuit. The couple claim they suffered from bedbug bites during their stay from Aug. 24-31, 2013, and claim they continued to be bitten after returning home, ... A search through bedbugregistry.com found...

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today asked for unanimous consent on his bill, the Expatriate Terrorist Act of 2014, that would strip Americans who join ISIS of their citizenship. Senator Hirono, D-Hawaii, objected. In his remarks offering the bill, Sen. Cruz discussed the rising threat of ISIS, his concerns with President Obama’s plans to arm the Free Syrian Army, and the support then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once gave to legislation, introduced in 2010 by former Senators Joe Lieberman and Scott Brown, that closely mirrors the ETA of 2014. Specifically Sen. Cruz said: “All too often the...

Sen. Ted Cruz tried to get the Senate to consider a measure Thursday providing that any American who joins the fight with terrorist groups such as the Islamic State would immediately renounce their U.S. citizenship, but a Democratic senator objected, saying more time is necessary to weigh the significant constitutional issues it raises. Ahead of the Senate’s scheduled consideration Thursday afternoon of a proposal to arm and train Syrian rebels, part of President Obama’s strategy to combat the terrorist group, the Texas Republican asked for unanimous consent to pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act he introduced earlier this month. The measure...

A new government report confirms what pro-life advocates have long feared: President Obama's health care reform law allows for taxpayer-funded abortions. In a report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office found 28 states with no laws restricting qualified health plans that limit abortion coverage. In Massachusetts, only two of the 111 state-approved plans comply with the historic Hyde Amendment, which prohibits abortion funding except in cases of rape or incest. Five states (Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont) don't offer any qualified plans that follow Hyde's precedent, in place since 1977. That directly contradicts the president's 2010 executive...

Kalapana. Royal Gardens. And now … Pahoa? With a lava flow advancing steadily toward Pahoa village, Kilauea appears poised to claim yet another community as part of its 31-year-long eruption.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday denied Hawaii’s request for a major disaster declaration after Tropical Storm Iselle. Iselle made landfall over the Big Island’s isolated and rural Puna region nearly three weeks ago, knocking down trees and power lines. FEMA denied the request because “it has been determined that the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude to go beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments and voluntary agencies,” the agency wrote to the state Thursday. …

Led by state representative Bob McDermott, outraged parents in Hawaii continue to fight valiantly to get an explicit sex instruction program coauthored by Planned Parenthood out of their middle schools. Rep. McDermott has just released his second meticulously researched report detailing the impropriety of the curriculum and violations of state and federal law regarding the testing and implementation of the program. At the same time, television ads have begun airing that feature a Hawaiian grandmother extolling the virtues of Pono Choices—dubbed Porno Choices by those who are familiar with the content. It is the first instance of which we are...

In its latest assault on the U.S. Constitution, the Obama administration is proposing to recognize so-called “Native” Hawaiians as an Indian tribe entitled to separate and become an independent sovereign and to “reestablish” a “government-to-government relationship between the United State and the Native Hawaiian community.”Such an unconstitutional action would amount to authorizing secession for certain residents of Hawaii.It would also implicitly authorize government-sanctioned, discriminatory conduct against any other residents who don’t meet the explicit ancestry and blood-quantum requirements to be considered a “Native.” This would balkanize Hawaii, dividing the islands into separate racial and ethnic enclaves, and undo “the...

Incumbent Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie was soundly defeated in the state's Democratic primary, results showed on Sunday. The loss by Abercrombie, who had been endorsed by Hawaii-born President Barack Obama, marked the first defeat for an incumbent Democratic governor in Hawaii since it was granted statehood in 1959, potentially re-arranging the political landscape before the U.S. general election in November. Final results showed Abercrombie with 30.8 percent of the votes and the winner, state Senator David Ige, with 66.1 percent.

It’s only a matter of time before the political press picks up on this episode as part of a narrative about the larger Democratic Civil War… right? On Saturday night, The Aloha State’s Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie lost the battle for his party’s gubernatorial nomination to state Sen. David Ige. Badly. With 99 percent of precincts reporting as of this writing, Igy won 67.4 percent of Democratic primary vote compared to just 31.5 percent for Abercrombie. The governor’s loss was not unexpected as public opinion surveys in even this difficult to poll state had unmistakably shown for several weeks that...

A 40-year political career came to a close after Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie lost his bid for a second term in a stunning primary-election defeat by a fellow Democrat and state senator who defied party leadership to challenge the incumbent. A second intraparty fight for U.S. Senate was too close to call. State Sen. David Ige, once seen as an underdog, cruised to a decisive 35 percentage point win in Saturday's primary after being dramatically outspent by Abercrombie, who also had high-profile endorsements including President Barack Obama. Ige said his win "proves that people power can be money power, especially...

Hawaii’s Gov. Neil Abercrombie was defeated and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz was fighting to avoid a similar ousting Saturday after a Democratic primary vote that occurred as the state cleaned up from Tropical Storm Iselle and awaited an incoming hurricane. State Sen. David Ige took a broad lead over Abercrombie from the earliest returns Saturday night, and the incumbent conceded publicly little more than three hours after the polls closed. The Senate contest was a dead heat late into the night; at one point Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and Schatz were separated by a mere 11 votes.

As the final days of campaigning drew to a close in Hawaii’s dramatic primary races, a pair of hurricanes thrashed toward the islands. The storms posed considerable risk, but for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, they also represented an opportunity to cast himself as a steady leader with a strong emotional connection to people in the state. […] … The incumbent governor faces a surprisingly strong challenge from a fellow Democrat and early voting was heavily encouraged. It’s not the only race splitting the Democratic Party establishment. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is challenging U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz to determine who will fill the...

As the final days of campaigning drew to a close in Hawaii’s dramatic primary races, a pair of hurricanes thrashed toward the islands. The storms posed considerable risk, but for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, they also represented an opportunity to cast himself as a steady leader with a strong emotional connection to people in the state. […] … The incumbent governor faces a surprisingly strong challenge from a fellow Democrat and early voting was heavily encouraged. It’s not the only race splitting the Democratic Party establishment. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is challenging U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz to determine who will fill the...

<p>Hawaiians are preparing for a potentially devastating one-two tropical cyclone punch, starting with Hurricane Iselle, which in a rarity for the state could make direct landfall Thursday evening.</p> <p>Iselle, on track to pass over the Big Island of Hawaii as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph, could bring up to 12 inches of rain, life-threatening storm surges, flash floods and mudslides, forecasters say.</p>

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie launched a radio ad Wednesday featuring President Barack Obama supporting the governor’s bid for re-election. In the ad, Obama uses the Hawaiian word for family, saying Abercrombie is “like ohana to me.” The president says Abercrombie knew his parents “before I was a twinkle in their eye.” Obama says the governor has made gutsy decisions leading Hawaii, tackled a budget crisis, made smart investments in education and fought for middle class and working families. …

The Republican nominee for governor of Hawaii stepped to the podium at a fundraiser for the state GOP, greeted by cheers and a standing ovation. Duke Aiona is the man who "will win, can win," a state senator insisted as he introduced the nominee. And the 200 donors and supporters in the audience apparently agreed. "I feel so confident right now," Aiona said in a pavilion lit by tiki torches, nestled in a valley on Oahu's North Shore. "This is a statement in and of itself, to have so many people here supporting the Republican Party." It's an odd sentiment...

The federal government posed a series of questions to Native Hawaiians, with whom it's seeking to reestablish nation-to-nation status. The answer it received, to all, was a resounding "no." This week, the Department of the Interior wrapped up two weeks of public meetings in Hawaii soliciting input from the Native Hawaiian community on setting up a similar structure to the one it has with Native American tribes. Kale Gumapac was one of the 130 people who signed up to speak in Hilo on the island of Hawaii. “[On] the questions that you raised for everyone to answer. It’s a trap,"...