NOEL KING, HOST:
Hawaii's governor, David Ige, a Democrat, is one step closer to a second term. This weekend, he fended off a primary challenge from Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa. Several other state races drew a wide field of Democratic candidates. Because of Hawaii's political demographics, the primaries are usually more tightly contested than the general election. Hawaii Public Radio's Bill Dorman has the story.
BILL DORMAN, BYLINE: "Blue Hawaii" - it's more than an Elvis Presley movie or a niche cocktail. It captures the political landscape of the Aloha State, where the math overwhelmingly favors Democrats. Twenty-five seats in the state Senate all are Democrats. Fifty-one seats in the state House of Representatives - 46 are Democrats. The party held its traditional Unity Breakfast the morning after the primary election. Governor David Ige reached out to his now-former rival, Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, and her supporters, looking ahead to the general election along with the nominee for lieutenant governor.
DAVID IGE: I'm going to take a couple days off and get recharged, and we'll be coming back and integrating the campaigns, looking for the strengths of both of our campaigns and seeing how we can maximize the assets that we have.
DORMAN: Ige, a longtime state lawmaker and an engineer by profession, will face Republican state Representative Andria Tupola in November. Because Hanabusa challenged Ige for the governorship, her congressional seat is up for election in November. The Democratic nomination for that seat went to Ed Case, who beat out half a dozen other contenders. He's a relative moderate who previously served in Congress more than a decade ago. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard cruised to a win by a wide margin in her bid for re-election. The lieutenant governor's race drew five Democrats, with state Senator and medical doctor Josh Green winning the nomination. And speaking of working with Governor Ige...
JOSH GREEN: He is a humble leader, and I am going to be honored to serve with him if we're chosen in November.
DORMAN: Voter turnout showed a slight improvement from a record low in 2016 but was still among the poorest in the country, with only 39 percent of registered voters casting ballots. For NPR News, I'm Bill Dorman in Honolulu.
(SOUNDBITE OF WILD NOTHING SONG, "VULTURES LIKE LOVERS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
