2010 Hawaii's 1st congressional district special election

The 2010 special election for the 1st congressional district of Hawaii was a special election to the United States House of Representatives that took place to fill the vacancy caused by Representative Neil Abercrombie's resignation on February 28, 2010 to focus on his campaign for Governor of Hawaii in the 2010 gubernatorial election.[1][2] Abercrombie planned to not run for re-election in 2010, and many of the candidates that were running for his open seat transferred to the special election.[1] The election was held on May 22, 2010 and Republican Charles Djou won, defeating five Democrats, four fellow Republicans, and four Independent candidates. The main reason for his win was because there were two Democratic candidates instead of one, which split the votes, allowing Djou to win, as Hawaii is an overwhelmingly Democratic state.[3][4] Djou became the first Republican elected to Congress from Hawaii since Pat Saiki in 1988; Djou volunteered on Saiki's 1988 campaign, and Saiki served as Djou's campaign chair in 2010. As of 2021, this is the last time in which a Republican was elected to Congress from Hawaii.

2010 Hawaii's 1st congressional district special election
May 22, 2010
 
Candidate Charles Djou Colleen Hanabusa Ed Case
Party Republican Democratic Democratic
Popular vote 67,610 52,802 47,391
Percentage 39.4% 30.8% 27.6%
Representative before election

Neil Abercrombie
Democratic

 Elected Representative

Charles Djou
Republican

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Special election rules

The election was held without a primary, meaning all candidates from all parties ran against one another and the person with the most votes (even if only a plurality) won; there was no runoff.[5] With three top-tier candidates running, two Democrats and one Republican, it was considered likely that the two Democrats would split the vote leading to a Republican victory.[5]

The election was conducted as a Vote-By-Mail election.[3] All registered voters as of the voter registration deadline were automatically mailed a packet containing the Vote-By-Mail ballot and return envelopes.[3] No polling places were open on May 22, 2010.[3] Ballots were mailed approximately 20 days prior to the election.[3] Voted ballots had to be received by the State of Hawaii Office of Elections no later than 6:00 p.m., May 22, 2010 in the return envelopes provided.[3]

Any voter requiring the use of an accessible voting machine could do so at the Office of the City Clerk, Honolulu Hale, 530 S. King St. from Monday, May 10, 2010 to Thursday, May 20, 2010, excluding Sundays and holidays between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.[3] Walk-in voting was open on Saturdays during this period.[3]

Candidates

Democrats

Republicans
  • Charles Amsterdam
  • Charles Collins
  • Douglas Crum
  • Charles Djou
  • John Giuffre[1]

No party affiliation

(List of candidates appearing on the May 22, 2010 State of Hawaii, U.S. Representative District 1 Special Vacancy Election ballot.[7])

Campaign

Democratic leaders conceded that the winner-take-all primary favored the one lone Republican in the race. The Republican National Committee (RNC) indicated it may directly support Djou with the hope of winning a congressional seat in a historically Democratic state;[8] RNC political director Gentry Collins referred to Scott Brown's victory in a Massachusetts special election for the U.S. Senate in stating: "I think for us to win that seat will send a signal that what happened in Massachusetts is not an isolated event."[9]

Both Case and Hanabusa represented different wings of the party, Case being more of a blue-dog moderate Democrat, while Hanabusa is preferred by the liberal wing.[5] Hanabusa secured the endorsement of EMILY's List, the local party establishment, and local labor unions.[5][10] Case was at odds with the party establishment over his primary challenge to U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka in 2006 when he was still Representative of the 2nd district,[5] although Case claimed that any bad blood with the Democratic electorate over the primary challenge was gone, according to his internal polling.[11] Case also criticized Hanabusa for keeping her post as president of the State Senate while attempting to campaign, saying: "It is inconsistent for her to want to run the Senate in a time of crisis for our state and want to run a full-fledged congressional campaign."[12] The national Democratic Party establishment and the Obama administration signaled Case was their pick, believing him more electable than Hanabusa. Case received support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee while Hanabusa said she hadn't spoken to them since the previous year.[10]

Both Case and Hanabusa proposed that the other drop out for the sake of party unity.[13] The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) dispatched an aide to the state in the hopes of at least ensuring no other Democrats enter the race.[5] It was unlikely either Democrat would drop out; both represented different views and both already faced off in a 2002 special election for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, which Case won.[5][14] The DCCC chairman Congressman Chris Van Hollen said he was counting on Abercrombie to help keep the seat Democratic; indicating that endorsements would be used to show which Democrat was preferred by the national party.[15] On May 10, 2010, the DCCC said it would not spend any further resources on the race, preferring to save those resources for the November election.[16]

Endorsements
Ed Case
Charles Djou
Colleen Hanabusa

Polling
Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin of
error		 Ed
Case (D)		 Charles
Djou (R)		 Colleen
Hanabusa (D)		 Other Undecided
Merriman River Group May 6–7, 2010 1,081 ±3.0 25.5% 39.5% 25.5% — 10%
Harstad Strategic Research April 24–26, 2010 506 n/a 34% 36% 20% — —
Honolulu Advertiser April 23–28, 2010 349 ±5.2% 28% 36% 22% — 13%
Daily Kos/Research 2000 April 11–14, 2010 500 ±4.5% 29% 32% 28% 4% 7%
DCCC internal poll April, 2010 n/a n/a 32% 32% 27% — 9%
Honolulu Star-Bulletin/Mason-Dixon January 8–12, 2010 403 ±5% 37% 17% 25% — 21%

Results
2010 Hawaii's 1st congressional district special election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Charles Djou 67,610 39.4
Democratic Colleen Hanabusa 52,802 30.8
Democratic Ed Case 47,391 27.6
Total votes 167,803 100.0
Republican gain from Democratic

References
  1. Borreca, Richard (December 11, 2009). "Abercrombie to resign from Congress to run for governor". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
  2. "Abercrombie resigns post". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. March 1, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  3. State of Hawaii Office of Elections (February 24, 2010). "FACTSHEET 2010 SPECIAL ELECTION U.S. House of Representatives, District 1" (PDF). Retrieved March 15, 2010.
  4. http://hawaii.gov/elections/results/2010/files/special2010.pdf
  5. Kraushaar, Josh (December 21, 2009). "GOP sets sights on blue Hawaii". Politico. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  6. "[no title]". we-are1.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21. Cite uses generic title (help)
  7. "State Of Hawaii U.S. Representative District 1 Special Vacancy Election-May 22, 2010". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  8. Borreca, Richard (January 28, 2010). "Republicans envision coup with Djou". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  9. DePledge, Derrick (January 28, 2010). "GOP sees opportunity in Islands". Honolulu Advertiser. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  10. "Obama's Home Congressional District In Play". Huffingtonpost.com. April 24, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  11. Miller, Sean J. (December 18, 2009). "Case: Dems forgave Akaka challenge". The Hill. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  12. Borreca, Richard (January 14, 2010). "Case, Hanabusa spar over election". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  13. Miller, Sean J. (December 26, 2009). "Lingering resentment could play into Hawaii congressional race". The Hill. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  14. Gima, Craig (January 6, 2003). "Victorious Case sees end of old-style politics". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  15. Soraghan, Mike; Blake, Aaron (December 11, 2009). "Both parties prepare for special election for Abercrombie seat". The Hill. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  16. Zeleny, Jeff (May 10, 2010). "National Democrats Bow Out of Hawaii Race". The New York Times.
  17. "Ed Case is the best choice for Congress". The Honolulu Advertiser. April 12, 2010. Archived from the original on April 21, 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  18. "Ed Case is best election choice". Honolulu Star Bulletin. May 6, 2010.
  19. "Sierra Club Hawaii Endorses Case, Hanabusa - Politics News Story - KITV Honolulu". Kitv.com. 2010-05-01. Archived from the original on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  20. "Ed Case". Ocean Champions. Archived from the original on 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  21. Cillizza, Chris. "The Fix - Tim Pawlenty rolls out 2010 endorsements". Voices.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  22. Cillizza, Chris (April 12, 2010). "Romney wades into Hawaii special election, raises $1.5 million for PAC". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  23. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2010-10-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. http://www.gaypatriot.net/2010/03/31/goproud-endorses-djou-for-congress/
  25. "Inouye aide to assist Hanabusa - Alex Isenstadt". Politico.Com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  26. Keoki Kerr KITV4 News (2010-04-05). "DCCC Will Not Rule Out Endorsement In Special - Politics News Story - KITV Honolulu". Kitv.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  27. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15061395
  29. "Congressional, Presidential and Political News, Blogs, Member Profiles". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2010-08-21.

Debates

Official candidates sites
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