Kauaʻi County Mayor Derek Kawakami has announced he will run for lieutenant governor, challenging current Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke for her spot on the fifth floor of the Hawaiʻi State Capitol.
Luke has been the center of a story following an ongoing investigation into an unknown lawmaker who allegedly accepted $35,000 in a paper bag in 2022. “I'm not saying I am the 'influential lawmaker' in question,” Luke previously told HPR.
Term-limited Kawakami has been the county’s mayor since 2018. He said he has remained steadfast in the belief that those in power should be working for the everyday person, citing his moves toward affordable housing, infrastructure upgrades, and improved public spaces.
“When I ran for mayor, it wasn’t because I had all the answers,” Kawakami said at his announcement Tuesday. “It was because I believed in something very simple: the government should work for the people that live here, not the other way around.”
Three current or former county councilmembers have announced their run for mayor to take Kawakami’s place after December.
Aside from Kawakami and Luke, other candidates could announce campaigns before the June filing deadline. The primary election for Hawaiʻi is set for Aug. 8.
According to the most recent campaign spending reports through December 2025, Kawakami currently has about $236,000 on hand. In comparison, Luke has about $641,000.
Kawakami spoke with Kauaʻi Community Radio after his announcement, stating he feels that his experience and the lessons he’s learned from leading Kauaʻi County can help shape the rest of the state
“I’ll never forget where I come from – I plan to bring Kauaʻi with me and share what we’re all about across the state,” he said.
“I truly believe that people look toward us and we put hope in people’s hearts and we can bring people together. I will always represent this island that gave me so much, to the best of my ability at all times. I love this place.”
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa political scientist Colin Moore explained on The Conversation that the attention on Luke's campaign finances and the federal investigation will have an impact on the race.
"She's going to fight for her political life. ... She has gone from being an incumbent that everyone thought would easily win reelection to an embattled incumbent who will have to convince her supporters to stick with her and really explain again and again to the public her side of the story, that this really was a clerical error," he said.
"The trouble for Lt. Gov. Luke is that any opposition campaign is going to remind voters of this again and again and again and again, and it'll be very hard for her to escape it."
Unlike candidates for U.S. president and vice president, candidates for Hawaiʻi governor and lieutenant governor do not officially run together.
