Three Republican veteran lawmakers are fighting to represent the growing West Oʻahu community of ʻEwa Beach in the state Senate.
The race between Rida Cabanilla-Arakawa, Kurt Fevella and Bob McDermott is one of the more unusual contests in Saturday’s primary election.
It’s not often candidates with elected experience face off in a Hawaiʻi primary. This race has three — and all have represented the ʻEwa area in the state Legislature at one point.
The winner will face Markus Owens in the general election in November. The real estate agent and former public relations executive is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Underwater tunnel
Cabanilla-Arakawa was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. at 17. She represented ʻEwa Beach as a Democrat in the House for more than a decade.
She clashed with both parties in 2013 when she refused to vote on a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.
She wants to return to the Legislature to build an underwater tunnel or bridge connecting ʻEwa Beach to Honolulu — a proposal she has pushed for in the past. She believes it would bring some relief to an area that faces long travel times to town in heavy traffic.
“If you just have an underwater tunnel and you want to come to town or go to Pearl Harbor, go to Hickam, you're there in less than five minutes,” Cabanilla-Arakawa said.
Oʻahu transportation planners long ago rejected the tunnel proposal, according to a 2011 city report, citing Navy opposition and the high cost of buying land for the tunnel entrance on the ʻEwa side.
Schools, roads and corruption
Fevella is the incumbent and a lifelong ʻEwa Beach resident. Right now, he’s one of just two Republicans in the Senate.
He aims to keep improving the district’s schools and roads if re-elected.
“So what we need is a new intermediate or middle school to — to keep up with the amount of kids that is coming to this community,” Fevella said.
He also wants to see through improvements to James Campbell High School’s athletic field. Work on the football field and rubber track is finished and the bleachers and lighting are next, he said.
Bob McDermott came to Hawaiʻi as a Marine in the 1980s. He represented the Salt Lake area and then later ʻEwa Beach in the state House.
He wants to speak out against corruption.
“In my 30 years in politics, I've never seen the corruption this bad, this bad, and that's quite a statement because I was in office during the Bishop Estate fiasco in the late 1990s,” McDermott said.
And he wants to protect parental rights over what children learn. He’s concerned that schools may be teaching about gender fluidity, saying they're “being told it's possible to be born in the wrong body from an authority figure standing in front of them.”
Working with Democrats?
One issue in the campaign has been how much Republicans should work with majority Democrats. Fevella and McDermott sparred over this last month during a candidate forum on PBS Hawaiʻi’s Insights.
McDermott accused Fevella of being a stooge for Senate President Ron Kouchi and Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Donovan Dela Cruz.
“Kouchi and Dela Cruz are counting on him as a vote to maintain their majority,” McDermott said. “Because they have Senate factions right now, and they know he's in the bag, in the bag.”
Fevella said he’s opposed Democrats on legalizing marijuana and other issues, and Democrats must be held to account. But he said he also needs to work with them to deliver benefits for ʻEwa Beach.
“I don't just lay it down. I'm a fighter, and I always been fighting for ʻEwa Beach,” Fevella said.
Cabanilla-Arakawa declined an invitation to appear at the forum. But she told HPR her approach would depend on the topic.
“You have to stand up as a Republican on issues that would matter to people, but it would matter to the district and for the benefit of all — I'm willing to waive my Republicanism and work with the Democrats,” Cabanilla said.
