2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii

The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the two U.S. representatives from the state, one from each of the state's two congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election for the United States Senate. Primary elections were held on August 11, 2012.^[1]

2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii

← 2010 November 6, 2012 2014 →
All 2 Hawaii seats to the United States House of Representatives
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 2 0 Seats won 2 0 Seat change Popular vote 285,008 137,531 Percentage 67.45% 32.55% Swing 4.57% 3.31%
District results County results Democratic   50–60%   60–70%   80–90%

Overview

United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii, 2012[2]
Party		Votes	Percentage	Seats before	Seats after	+/–
	Democratic	285,008	67.45	2	2	±0
	Republican	137,531	32.55	0	0	±0
Totals		422,539	100.00%	2	2	±0

District 1

United States House of Representatives District 1

← 2010 November 6, 2012 2014 →

Nominee Colleen Hanabusa Charles Djou Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 114,756 95,431 Percentage 54.6% 45.4%

Precinct results Hanabusa:      50–60%      60–70% Djou:      50–60%      60–70%      No votes

U.S. Representative before election Colleen Hanabusa Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Colleen Hanabusa Democratic

See also: Hawaii's 1st congressional district

Democrat Colleen Hanabusa, who was first elected to represent the 1st district in 2010, ran for re-election.^[3]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Colleen Hanabusa, incumbent U.S. representative

Eliminated in primary

• Roy Wyttenbach II^[4]

Primary results

Democratic primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Colleen Hanabusa (incumbent)	92,136	84.1
	Democratic	Roy Wyttenbach II	17,369	15.9
Total votes			109,505	100.0

Republican primary

Former U.S. Representative Charles Djou, who represented the 1st district from May 2010 until January 2011, sought and received the Republican nomination to challenge Hanabusa again. He defeated C. Kaui Amsterdam and John Giuffre in the Republican primary.^[6][7]

Candidates

Nominee

• Charles Djou, former U.S. representative

Eliminated in primary

• C. Kaui Amsterdam
• John Giuffre

Primary results

Republican primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Djou	25,984	95.7
	Republican	C. Kaui Amsterdam	799	2.9
	Republican	John Giuffre	376	1.4
Total votes			27,159	100.0

General election

Endorsements

Colleen Hanabusa (D)

Organizations

• Sierra Club^[8]

Charles Djou (R)

Organizations

• National Republican Congressional Committee "Contender" Program^[9]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[10]	Safe D	November 5, 2012
Rothenberg[11]	Safe D	November 2, 2012
Roll Call[12]	Safe D	November 4, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball[13]	Safe D	November 5, 2012
NY Times[14]	Safe D	November 4, 2012
RCP[15]	Safe D	November 4, 2012
The Hill[16]	Safe D	November 4, 2012

Results

Hawaii's 1st congressional district, 2012^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Colleen Hanabusa (incumbent)	116,505	54.6
	Republican	Charles Djou	96,824	45.4
Total votes			213,329	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 2

United States House of Representatives District 2

← 2010 November 6, 2012 2014 →

Nominee Tulsi Gabbard Kawika Crowley Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 167,085 40,285 Percentage 80.6% 19.4%

Precinct results Gabbard:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%      No votes

U.S. Representative before election Mazie Hirono Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard Democratic

See also: Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

Democrat Mazie Hirono, who had represented the 2nd district since 2007, announced in May 2011 that she would run for the U.S. Senate rather than for re-election to the House.^[17]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Tulsi Gabbard, Honolulu City Councilmember^[18][19]

Eliminated in primary

• Rafael "Del" del Castillo, attorney and patients' rights advocate^[20]
• Mufi Hannemann, former mayor of Honolulu^[21][22]
• Esther Kia'aina, chief advocate for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs^[23]
• Bob Marx, attorney^[20]
• Miles Shiratori, financial advisor^[24]

Declined

• Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and unsuccessful candidate for the House of Representatives in Illinois in 2006^[25]
• Josh Green, state senator^[18]
• Clayton Hee, state senator^[18]
• Mazie Hirono, incumbent U.S. representative
• Gary Hooser, director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control and former state senator^[18][26]

Campaign

Hannemann and Gabbard differed on the issue of same-sex marriage. Gabbard was opposed to the Defense of Marriage Act and to a proposed Hawaii state constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a woman and a man, while Hannemann supported DOMA.^[27] Gabbard had previously opposed same-sex marriage,^[28] but during the primary campaign, promised to work to repeal DOMA and co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage act.^[29] Voters initially doubted the sincerity of her new views on the issue.^[30]

Gabbard filed a 270-page complaint against Hannemann's spending,^[31] saying that his campaign broke campaign finance laws by failing to report 2012 travel and polling expenses and improperly dealt with Hanneman's salary from a tourism association.^[32]

Candidates Marx, Gabbard, and Kia'aina debated on June 5,^[33] and Marx, Gabbard, Kia'aina and Hannemann debated in early July.^[27]

Gabbard's ratings in the polls increased steadily and Hannemann's dropped throughout the primary campaign;^[34] as of August 6, she was leading against Hanneman 49% to 29%.

Endorsements

Gabbard received endorsements from the Sierra Club,^[8] Women Under Forty PAC,^[35] Emily's List,^[36] VoteVets and MauiTime.^[37]

Primary results

On August 11, Gabbard defeated Hanneman by twenty points. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser described her win as the "improbable rise from a distant underdog to victory".^[38] Gabbard credited grassroots support as the reason for her come-from-behind win in the primary.^[39]

Democratic primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tulsi Gabbard	62,882	55.1
	Democratic	Mufi Hannemann	39,176	34.3
	Democratic	Esther Kia'aina	6,681	5.9
	Democratic	Bob Marx	4,327	3.8
	Democratic	Miles Shiratori	573	0.5
	Democratic	Rafael del Castillo	520	0.4
Total votes			114,159	100.0

Aftermath

Gabbard decided to resign her seat on the City Council, stating that she wanted to prevent the cost of a separate special election,^[40] and resigned on August 16.^[41]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Kawika Crowley, handyman^[42]

Eliminated in primary

• Matthew DiGeronimo, entrepreneur, motivational and business speaker, radio talk show host and former Navy officer^[43]

Declined

• Duke Aiona, former lieutenant governor of Hawaii^[44]
• Jonah Kaauwai, former chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party^[20]

Primary results

Republican primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kawika Crowley	9,056	60.8
	Republican	Matt DiGeronimo	5,843	39.2
Total votes			14,899	100.0

General election

Endorsements

Tulsi Gabbard (D)

Organizations

• Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee "Majority Makers" Program^[45]
• EMILY's List^[46]
• Sierra Club
• Veterans' Alliance for Security and Democracy^[47]
• VoteVets^[48]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[10]	Safe D	November 5, 2012
Rothenberg[11]	Safe D	November 2, 2012
Roll Call[12]	Safe D	November 4, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball[13]	Safe D	November 5, 2012
NY Times[14]	Safe D	November 4, 2012
RCP[15]	Safe D	November 4, 2012
The Hill[16]	Safe D	November 4, 2012

Results

Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, 2012^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tulsi Gabbard	168,503	80.5
	Republican	Kawika Crowley	40,707	19.5
Total votes			209,210	100.0
	Democratic hold