In title, state Rep. Kanani Souza of Kapolei and Makakilo is the minority caucus whip, but she hasn’t attended minority caucus meetings since the end of January.
"It's a decision that I had to make, and I was compelled to make based off of just doing what's right," Souza said last week. "(I'm) just doing what's right for myself, in the way that I work best."
Republicans in the state House of Representatives increased this session to six members, with Souza coming in as a new freshman lawmaker to the majority Democratic Legislature.
The fragmentation may have been coming. While campaigning, Souza distanced herself from the established Republican Party, noting that many in her district fall between parties.
"I basically did not utilize the help of the Republican Party and just kept it a very independent campaign, focusing on grassroots efforts with my constituents and going door to door and having those one on one conversations with the people that I would be serving if elected," Souza, an attorney and former deputy county prosecutor, said.
"As a Republican, you always feel very marginalized, especially in campaigns," she said.
But while in office, she said she's found bipartisan comradery with the Democrats, who she thought would be "the big bad wolves of the Legislature, and it has not been that way at all."
Souza takes a more moderate conservative position, saying she’ll vote no to restrictive gun legislation, and yes on measures related to reproductive rights. Throughout the session, Souza has directly countered the claims made by fellow Republicans on the floor of the House.
"We need to make sure that everyone is prepared on the floor, (and) everyone has a good understanding of the merits of the bills," Souza said.
While she's distanced herself from the party, she's shown support for causes she believes in, like some progressive criminal justice reform, even co-convening a Crime Prevention and Justice Caucus.
"I really assess the merits of each bill and keep an open mind as to what these bills are trying to do as far as changing, whether it's positively or negatively affecting the Penal Code, and how it is having an impact on perhaps addressing some of the disparate impacts of the criminal justice system on the Native Hawaiian population and other marginalized populations, and really try to get just a good sense of whether we trying to move in a positive direction with criminal justice reform," she said.
Souza said there's "no place" for bickering amongst lawmakers.
"Anyone who's not focused on doing the hard work that it takes to address these issues, and instead would rather focus on infighting or elevating their own personal agendas, there's no place for that here at the Capitol," Souza said. "I firmly believe that and the constituents deserve to have people working on their behalf."
This type of divide among party members isn’t new, and Souza’s been compared to former Rep. Cynthia Thielen, another moderate Republican.
Party infighting came to a head for Thielen in 2013, when the Legislature sought to pass a marriage equality act. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Thielen made her crucial yes vote known, and members fought back.
"It was pretty brutal, because the Republican caucus members, all of them, including Beth Fukumoto, all of them moved to remove me from the Judiciary Committee," Thielen said.
But enough Democrats voted to keep Thielen on the committee, and after that, she distanced herself.
"I finally stopped going to caucus because it was just not productive and not worthwhile," Thielen said.
Thielen left office in 2020, after serving three decades, but she's been keeping up with politics. To her, it's become "disappointing" to watch.
"I'm sorry to see the (minority) caucus be such a right-wing, my-way only kind of group, and I'm thankful for the one member who is standing up with independent thinking," Thielen said. "It's hard for her and I know that because I've been there."
Souza, who still identifies as a conservative, said she'd rather see a wide range of beliefs represented on the floor rather than more fringe ideas.
"I think it's important to have that perspective and to have the Pat Saikis and the Cynthia Thielens of the Republican Party, so that we can gain traction through credibility and sophistication," Souza said.
"Until that happens, the party, in my opinion, will remain fragmented, and the caucus will remain fragmented," she said.
HPR reached out to House minority leader Lauren Matsumoto for comment.
