The race is on for three at-large seats on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees. Whoever the top six vote-getters are will face each other in the November general election.
Two incumbent trustees — Brickwood Galuteria and John Waihe‘e IV — and former Honolulu City Councilmember Ikaiaka Anderson are taking the lead, according to the first printout of results released by the Office of Elections.
Incumbent Trustee Keoni Souza, along with newcomers Adrian Keali‘i Akina and Kanekoa Crabbe, are also in the running.
For the at-large posts Galuteria had 9.2%, Waihe‘e had 8.7%, and Anderson had 7.2% of the votes. Incumbent Souza was in fourth place with 6.8% followed by Akina with 5.2% and Crabbe with 3.5%.
Trailing the top six finishers in the at large race are: Kalena Parish, Brendon Kalei‘aina Lee, Michelle Mikala Costello, Karl Veto Baker, R. Kunani Nihipali, Jackie Kaho‘okele Burke, Shelby Pikachu Billionaire, Philip Kawika Martin, and Clifford Kauaula.
Whoever advances to the general election is one step closer to joining the nine-member board, which decides how to manage OHA’s $600-million trust.
The elections come as OHA considers a potential bid to buy the television new station KITV, how best to develop Kaka‘ako Makai and a way to gain a larger role in military leases.
OHA was created in 1978 as a semiautonomous state agency. The board is tasked with managing revenue from lands once held by the Hawaiian Kingdom to help improve the condition of Native Hawaiians.
