Filipino American Candidates Who Won the 2020 Hawaii General Election
By Jim Bea Sampaga
As the country anxiously waits for the final count of votes of the next U.S. president, local government has already announced the newly elected officials of the 2020 General Election.
Many Filipino Americans ran for multiple public office positions this election with some of them aiming to be elected for the same seat. However, only few Filipino Americans won this year’s general election.
With the new Honolulu mayor Rick Blangiardi and Hawaii County Mayor Roth Mitch, here are the Filipino Americans that won their respective races.
Augusto Tulba, better known as the entertainer AugieT, won the Honolulu City Council Dist. 9 race against veteran politician Will Espero. Tulba garnered 51.90% of the votes while Espero got a close 48.10%.
In Kalihi, Honolulu City Council Dist. 7 incumbent Joey Manahan’s chief of staff, Radiant Cordero, won the Dist. 7 seat with 52.90%. While fellow Filipino American competitor Jacob Aki received 47.10% of the votes.
Current Dist. 39 State House Representative Ty Cullen secured his seat for another two years with 65.85% votes against fellow Fil-Am Austin Maglinti with 34.15%. Another Fil-Am face-off are Sonny Ganaden and Tess Quilingking of the State House Dist. 30. Ganaden won with 68.05% of votes while Abalos received 31.95%.
Dist. 24 State House Rep. Della Au Belatti will be serving another term in the district after a landslide win of 77.23% votes against Aloha Aina Party Andy Sexton with 22.77%.
Bennette Misalucha, who was appointed by Governor David Ige to fill the late Senator Breene Harimoto’s State Senate Dist. 16 seat this July, will be serving the district of Pearl Harbor, Pearl City and Aiea for another term. She secured the senate seat with 52.69% against Kelly Kitashima’s 47.31%.
Another Fil-Am incumbent Donovan Dela Cruz has been serving the State Senate Dist. 22 since January 2011. He is reelected for another term after a landslide win of 70.29% compared to opponent John Miller’s 29.70%.
Meanwhile in neighboring islands, a Fil-Am candidate is elected in the State House while two more candidates are elected for the State Senate.
Greggor Ilagan won the State House Dist. 4 seat in Big Island with a landslide win of 70.10% votes against Republican Hope Cermelj (17.44%) and Aloha Aina Party Desmon Haumea (12.45%).
Incumbent Gil Keith-Agaran of Maui won the State Senate Dist. 5 race with 64.31% of votes against Republican Christy Kajiwara-Gusman (30.93%) and Aloha Aina Party Rynette Keen (4.76%).
In another Big Island race, State Senate Dist. 2 Joy San Buenaventura is elected after garnering 75.19% of votes compared to Aloha Aina Party opponent, Ron Ka-ipo with 24.81%.
