On Maui, The Movement Beat The Money / Maui Voters Back Our Hawai‘i Pledge Candidates, Reelect Mayor Over $1.9 Million Super PAC Bid
Lāhainā organizer Paʻele Kiakona leads House District 14 by 107 votes and is poised to become the first Green Party member elected to the Hawaiʻi Legislature.
News Release from Our Hawaii PAC, Nov 4, 2026
Lāhainā, HI – Maui is not for sale, and on Tuesday its voters said so. In West Maui, Our Hawai‘i endorsed Lāhainā Strong organizer and Green Party candidate Pāʻele Kiakona has won the State House District 14 race beating out his Democratic opponent by 107 votes as well as the Republican, making history as the first third-party candidate elected to the Hawai‘i legislature in more than 100 years, and the only elected Green Party member in the United States. Our Hawai‘i candidate and kalo farmer Bobby Pahia also won his Upcountry Maui County Council seat with more than 60 percent of the vote, delivering the Maui County Council majority to Our Hawai‘i Pledge signers who have all turned down corporate PAC and lobbyist money to run campaigns powered by their neighbors.
Kiakona makes history as the first Green Party member elected to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and the first third-party candidate elected to legislature in over 100 years since the Home Rule Party (Ku‘okoa Home Rula) era. He trailed his Democratic opponent, Sne Patel of the short-term rental industry, through the first two printouts. When the third printout posted at 2:35 a.m. on Wednesday, he led 2,991 votes to 2,884. Precinct data show he outpolled his opponent among in-person voters and ran strongest in the residential neighborhoods of Lahaina town and Waiehu. He was outspent 4-1 by Sne Patel and outside committees supporting Mr. Patel.
The clearest test of money in Maui politics this year was the mayor’s race, where voters reelected Mayor Richard Bissen, over Yuki Lei Sugimura 54.8 percent to 42.6 percent. For A Better Tomorrow, the super PAC affiliated with Pacific Resource Partnership, reported spending at least $1.9 million supporting Sugimura, dwarfing spending by Bissen and allies. Since the Lāhaina wildfires, Mayor Bissen has boldly stood with Lāhainā Strong, Our Hawai‘i, and the people of Maui against moneyed interests to phase out the overabundance of short-term vacation rentals in Maui, restore Maui’s water to public trust, and diversify the economy.
“Organized money has run Hawaiʻi politics for a long time. This week, organized people in Maui showed it doesn’t have to,” said Kaniela Ing, Co-founder and President of Our Hawaiʻi. “This isn’t about any one opponent. It’s about a system built for donors. Pāʻele and Uncle Bobby turned down corporate PAC and lobbyist money, showed up for their neighbors long before their names were on a ballot, and their neighbors showed up for them. We congratulate them and Mayor Bissen on these historic victories.”
Three years after the August 2023 wildfires, the people of Lāhainā are sending one of their own organizers to the Capitol. He helped lead Lāhainā Strong’s campaign for housing for displaced families, including advocacy for Act 17 (SB2919), the 2024 state law that let counties phase out transient vacation rentals and for Bill 9, the Maui County ordinance that is phasing thousands of TVRs out in West and South Maui. He ran with the backing of the state’s five largest unions – HGEA, HSTA, ILWU, UPW, and UNITE HERE Local 5 – and without corporate money. His largest institutional donor was the ILWU at $2,000.
“Long before I ever asked you for your vote, I was right there beside you, fighting to protect and rebuild our home,” said Kiakona.
His opponent, Democrat Sne Patel, raised at least $16,150 from the campaign committees of 15 sitting legislators along with $15,620 from real estate and development interests and $15,014 from building trades and construction, according to Campaign Spending Commission records. For A Better Tomorrow named Patel in a $245,000 ad buy supporting 10 legislative candidates. Local Jobs For Local People, a super PAC funded by the Hawaiʻi Electrical Workers Stabilization Fund, spent more than $90,000 supporting Patel and three Oʻahu candidates, and the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi spent $35,000 on digital ads naming him.
With Kiakona’s election, at least six members of the incoming state House have signed the Our Hawaiʻi Pledge: Pāʻele Kiakona and Reps. Ikaika Hussey, Amy Perruso, Tina Nakada Grandinetti and Kim Coco Iwamoto, along with Representative-elect Corey Rosenlee.
On Maui, Pledge signers will hold five of the County Council’s nine seats, a majority: Bobby Pahia, Councilmember-elect Kelly Takaya King, and Councilmembers Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Shane Sinenci, and Gabe Johnson.
Counting Councilmembers Fern Anuenue Holland on Kauaʻi and Jenn Kagiwada on Hawaiʻi Island, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chair Kai Kahele, 14 incumbent or newly officeholders elected or reelected this year have taken The Our Hawai‘i Pledge to refuse “all campaign contributions more than $100 from corporate PACs and lobbyists” and from “the executives of luxury and out-of-state developers, major landowners, hotel conglomerates, energy monopolies, and military contractors” that dominate Hawaiʻi campaign spending. They also commit to policies addressing our housing crisis, energy costs for working families, environmental protection, economic fairness, and getting money out of politics once and for all.
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About the Our Hawaiʻi Pledge: Launched in 2022 from a policy platform generated and backed by 19 Hawaiʻi-wide community-based groups, asks candidates for office to “be an independent voice and advocate for kamaʻāina, and stand against the pay-to-play special interest corruption that has held back progress for the people of Hawaiʻi.”
2026 election winners and incumbents who have taken The Our Hawai‘i Pledge:
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chair Kai Kahele
Representative Ikaika Hussey, HD-29 incumbent, Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, portion of Kalihi
Representative Amy Perruso, HD-46 incumbent, Wahiawa, Waialua, Whitmore Village, Launani Valley, Mokuleia, and a portion of Waipio Acres
Representative Tina Nakada Grandinetti, HD-20 incumbent, Lēʻahi, Kāhala, Waiʻalae, Kaimukī, Kapahulu
Representative Kim Coco Iwamoto, HD-25 incumbent, Ala Moana · Kakaʻako · Downtown
Corey Rosenlee, HD-39 representative elect, Royal Kunia, Village Park, Honouliuli, Ho‘opili, a portion of Waipahu
Pāʻele Kiakona, HD-14 representative elect, Lāhainā, Māʻalaea, Waiheʻe, Waiehu
Maui County Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, incumbent, Molokaʻi
Maui County Councilmember Shane Sinenci, incumbent, East Maui, Hāna, Keanae, Kailua
Maui County Councilmember Kelly Takaya King, South Maui
Maui County Councilmember Gabe Johnson, incumbent, Lanaʻi
Maui County Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Molokai
Bobby Pahia, Maui County Councilmember-elect, Upcountry
Kauai County Councilmember Fern Anuenue Holland, incumbent, Kauai, Niʻihau
Hawaiʻi County Councilmember Jenn Kagiwada, incumbent, portions of South Hilo, Downtown Hilo, Bayfront, Wailoa, a portion of Waiākea Houselots, University Heights, Komohana Gardens, a portion of Waiākea Uka, Lanakila, Mohouli, Ainako, Kaumana, Piʻihonua, Wailuku and Waiānuenu