The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Tommy Waters, the current Chair of the Honolulu City Council, is ineligible to run in the 2026 General Election.
That means the top two candidates, Trevor Ozawa and Tara Malia Gregory, will advance and be on the ballot in November.
HPR reached out to both candidates for comment after the ruling and spoke with Tommy Waters live in studio to share his thoughts and reaction to the court’s ruling.
Interview Highlights
Ozawa’s response
TREVOR OZAWA: I wanna say something about Tommy Waters. He reached out to me today and wished me well, and I really appreciated that. I responded and told him that if elected, my door is always gonna be open to him and his supporters. No matter who they voted for, all the constituents in the district will be welcome if I get the opportunity to serve as the council member for East Honolulu.
Gregory’s response
TARA MALIA GREGORY: I’m feeling very grateful. I was in the courtroom that day. I was able to defend myself pro se [without a lawyer], so I am grateful for that opportunity. And I'm not shocked with the courtroom and the Supreme Court's decision. I'm not even shocked that they were split because there is a lot of ambiguity inside of 3-102, right? It's great that these things do happen because we want to make sure that things are very clear for constituents and for candidates.
Waters’ response
TOMMY WATERS: Well, I'm fine. It was more shocking when Ashford, the circuit court judge, ruled against us. That was a big surprise, but, you know, ultimately, it was a vague, not clear, ambiguous issue, and it's great that we got some closure. … May I just thank the voters and supporters and the whole district, for that matter, for allowing me to represent them for the last six-plus years. You know, it really was an honor.
On the confusion during the primary election
WATERS: The circuit court set the hearing like a month down the line, knowing that the ballots were already going to be printed and mailed, which added to the confusion, honestly. It would have been nicer if we could have gotten a hearing way in advance. And that way we would have we wouldn't be in this situation, right? But it is what it is. I think ultimately, though, the Supreme Court did rule on Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes 12-8 that you have to take care of these types of disputes 60 days prior to the primary election. That way we won't have the same problem. That's why, you know, this situation was very unique. I think it won't happen again.
On his priorities for his last term as City Council Chair
WATERS: Disaster preparedness. With this Kona low and this last storm, and another one coming, the city really needs to be more better prepared. And part of that is socking away money for infrastructure. That's one of the things I'd like to try to do between now and then. You know, there's this transient accommodations tax that we used to build rail, but there's a lot of it that's not used for rail that we could set aside for disaster preparedness, right? It was really bad with our electricity going out and possibly water in certain areas, so that's one thing I'd like to try to do. … Of course, housing is another huge issue for all of us. You know, I've told you this story before. I'm the fifth of six kids. We're all born and raised right here in Honolulu. I went to Kamehameha Schools along with one of my brothers and sisters. Two of my sisters went to Castle. One of my sisters went to Kaiser High School, but they all live on the mainland. They can't afford to live here, and I'm deathly afraid that my kids are going to go away to college and get a good job and not come back because it's too expensive. So housing is a huge, huge deal, and I know I know whoever's elected is going to take that serious as well.
This story aired on The Conversation on Aug. 31, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
