There are three candidates on the ballot for West Maui's House District 14 State Representative seat. That's unusual because one candidate is running under the Green Party. There's only been one other Green candidate for the seat since 1992, which is when the State Elections Office's online available records end.
Incumbent Elle Cochran was elected as a Democrat in 2022. She's seeking reelection as a Republican after switching parties earlier this year. Sne Patel is the Democratic candidate as a first-timer in the political arena with a background in small business advocacy. The Green Party candidate is Pāʻele Kiakona, who has been leading the Lahaina Strong initiative since the wildfires.
Republican Elle Cochran
Affordability is a key issue all three candidates recognize.
For Cochran, it's simple.
"I think it's just being able to live home," she said. "It's about being able to afford to live where we all grew up and what we want to call home."
She said she's running for reelection because "I want to make a difference in my community and stand up for the good things and hopefully leave a legacy behind to better where we live," Cochran told HPR.
"I think this is a place that you would think could make it happen, but ugly politics does get in the way. But every now and then, you can accomplish some things."
She left the Democratic Party earlier this year, calling it toxic, and said Republicans have been welcoming and supportive. She said she's now the only neighbor island Republican, and one of 10 in her party in the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives.
"I was literally ready to throw in the towel and just resign, or at least be done with it in December," Cochran said of leaving the Democratic Party in the spring. "But you know, here I am, reinvigorated, running a new campaign, and hoping to get back in, with my new party."
Cochran was born in Wailuku and is a lifelong Lahaina resident. She previously served eight years as a Maui County Councilmember, where she learned a unique skill set.
"I have intimate knowledge about, not sexy subjects, but wastewater treatment plants and drainage plans and sewer and landfills," Cochran laughed. "Those are things I'm very knowledgeable about and have a lot of background on, so I think that I bring to the table."
She said overcoming past personal challenges has helped her connect with people.
"I bartended for 33 years. I feel like I know how to listen to people and get a read on them and be empathetic," she said. "No one's perfect, and I've learned from the school of hard knocks myself."
Democrat Sne Patel
Originally from India, Patel and his wife have raised their three children in Lahaina, where he’s lived for over 20 years. Most of that time, he worked in restaurants and Front Street art galleries.
"While I was managing those small businesses, I also became active in the community and started volunteering and then putting my time into the Lahaina Town Action Committee, which I've been a part of for the better part of 15 years, and have been the president for over a decade for that organization."
He has also served on several Maui County boards and commissions, including the post-fire Maui Economic Recovery Commission.
He explained what drew him to run for office.
"I think it was just at a critical point for West Maui, we've had longstanding issues even before the fire with our infrastructure, affordability, and some of those larger issues that still haven't been worked on in West Maui," he said. "We haven't, I feel like, had the strongest leadership at the state level to bring a lot of those larger projects moving forward. I felt like I no longer want to see West Maui get left behind."
He feels building more long-term housing is important, as well as a focus on infrastructure.
"The biggest issues that I get told about is just the safety component of our infrastructure, making sure as we're rebuilding back Lahaina and West Maui, we're building back more resilient and that we have adequate safety routes in and out of the West Side."
He said he also has experience with the post-fire rebuilding process.
"[I'm] also somebody that is a condo board president, and is going through the rebuilding workflow myself for the condominium community that I own at," said Patel of the burned Lahaina Spinnaker building. "So it's like having all of that collective knowledge and being able to then show that I can work with different types of people and groups in order to move things forward and find practical solutions to a lot of these complex issues."
Green Party Pāʻele Kiakona
For Kiakona, protecting water resources and the ʻāina is key.
"Environmental studies has been my major, my background," he told HPR. "I grew up in the taro patch, and I'm born and raised in Lahaina. I feel like that is something that sets me apart. And I show up. I'm accountable, and I always put community first."
He has worked as a community organizer, advocated to shift housing priorities to local ʻohana, and served on the Maui Board of Water Supply.
"If you look at a lot of our issues, whether it be cost of living, whether it be resiliency, regreening Lahaina, all of these things are almost always related right back to the health of our environment."
Kiakona believes his campaign's momentum has been building.
"I've seen a lot of people in my generation get so much more involved, and a lot of them getting even more involved because they know that I'm running for office. I've seen people come out and sign-wave when they've never done so before. I have people, hundreds of people that I know personally that are voting for the first time because they believe in what's happening here."
Kiakona hopes the education and awareness he's raised along the campaign trail will have wider-reaching impacts, regardless of next month’s results.
"Getting in is also the goal," he said. "But part of the goal was to educate community and show them I've been fighting every step of the way for this community. I've shown up to every single community meeting. We've had a lot of success just doing the work and not letting your typical politics get in the way of doing that work. If the community sees this person that they've seen for three years fight and had success take a different route and jump into a separate party of the two-party system, then at least, it is my hope."
Different views of politics
Cochran expressed frustration with the political system, describing a "consortium of unions and developers and money" that "fund campaigns, and get them into office," where they become "rubber-stampers" who are then "beholden to people who fund their campaigns."
Like Cochran, Kiakona doesn't feel that the status quo has been working effectively.
"I just saw how it was very much so relationships that put people in hard situations where they may not, say, support a bill because of the relationship with the person who wrote the bill, and I just didn't feel like that was the right way to go about it," Kiakona said, explaining his decision to run under the Green Party, while also describing it as "a much harder route."
Patel considers his party affiliation an asset.
"I think my strength coming in as a Democratic candidate is the fact that I will be part of that majority party that already has some of these larger issues highlighted and tracked as what they want to work on," he said.
Following the campaign money
One area that separates the candidates is their campaign contributions.
Patel tops the funding total with more than $62,000 received in 2026, according to state Campaign Spending Commission records. Labor unions and real estate agents are among his largest donor groups, as well as the campaigns of other state legislators.
Kiakona has received a little over $26,000 since January of this year, mostly from individual donors.
Cochran received $500 during the same period, which she herself donated to her campaign. She did not receive any other contributions during this period.
District 14 includes Maʻalaea, Olowalu, Lahaina and Kaʻanapali.
Voters in the district can select any of these candidates on their General Election ballot, regardless of their party affiliation.
