The Winner

If you live in Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) will keep representing you after winning a third term. The Associated Press called the race for Tokuda at 8:18 p.m. Hawaii time on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 3. ​

Tokuda has 129,931 votes (66.5%) to 65,441 (33.5%) for Republican Brenton Awa, a margin of about 33 points, with an estimated 99% of votes counted, according to Associated Press election results. She returns to a House where Democrats will hold the majority.

The Race

Awa, the Republican minority leader in the Hawaii state Senate, ran unopposed in the Aug. 8 Republican primary, while Tokuda won the Democratic primary with 91.5% over three challengers, according to Ballotpedia’s race page. Cook Political Report and Inside Elections rated the race Solid Democratic, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it Safe Democratic.

Tokuda’s share matched her 2024 result, when she took 66.5% against Republican Steve Bond and two other candidates, according to NBC News 2024 results. Her margin was about 3 points smaller than in that four-way race, as Awa drew a larger share than Bond’s 30.2%.

The district covers rural and suburban Oahu outside Honolulu along with every neighbor island, including Hawaii Island, Maui and Kauai, according to Hawaii Public Radio. About 725,600 people live there, and the median household income is $95,900.

The median age is 41. Of adults, 32.3% hold at least a bachelor’s degree, unemployment is 5.5% and 11.1% of residents live below the poverty line.

What’s Next

Tokuda’s new term begins Sunday, Jan. 3. She serves on the House Agriculture and Armed Services committees and the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and she is the top Democrat on an agriculture subcommittee on conservation and research, according to her AllCiv committee profile. Democrats will chair those committees in the new Congress.

In a June candidate questionnaire for Honolulu Civil Beat, Tokuda named lowering costs as her top priority. She said she would push to remove tariffs on U.S. allies, suspend the federal gas tax and reverse cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.

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