GOP hoping to
claim 18 House seats

'I don't see that we'll lose an
awful lot of seats, if any,' says
Democratic chairman Heen

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

The Republican Party is taking aim at the state House where it hopes to win at least 18 of the 51 seats this fall, enough to prevent a veto-override if a Republican is elected governor.

"I think it's not only realistic, it's our minimum. We're shooting for more than that," said state GOP Chairwoman Donna Alcantara.

But state Democratic Party Chairman Walter Heen expects the numbers of Democrats and Republicans in the House to remain about the same.

"I don't see that we'll lose an awful lot of seats, if any," Heen said.

Republicans currently hold 12 seats in the House.

But two members, Rep. Quentin Kawananakoa (R, Nuuanu) and Rep. Gene Ward (R, Haihaione), are leaving to run for Congress. Also, Rep. Colleen Meyer (R, Kahaluu) said she will make a decision soon on whether she will run for the state Senate.

"We're starting at least two down," said Rep. Galen Fox (R, Waikiki), who has been recruiting Republican candidates for the House.

Fox said the GOP has strong candidates in seven races and a good possibility of winning at least five other seats.

For the first time in years, Republicans hope to field candidates in every race so no Democratic incumbent will be without a challenger in the general election.

"Just with mathematics alone, we're going to pick up some seats with this anti-incumbent mood," Alcantara said.

Fox noted Republicans also expect to face Democrats trying to knock off incumbents.

Rep. Paul Whalen (R, Kona) is likely to have a tough re-election fight against Democrat and former Rep. Virginia Isbell.

"All of us who just got elected last time, we're going to have to work hard to be re-elected," Fox said.

Alcantara said Republicans are only hoping to win three seats in the Senate.

But she said that could be enough to bring a change in leadership, with Senate President Norman Mizuguchi holding on to power with just a slim majority.

"The energy of the party is to build a strong farm team in the state House," Alcantara explained. "We're not ignoring the Senate, but we're focusing on the state House. Then we can start the move up."

Heen said, "The counterplan of the Democrats will be the same plan we've used for some 40 years, and that is grass-roots politics. We outmaneuver and outwork the Republicans every election in our grass-roots politics."

Alcantara said Republicans are trying to build their own grass-roots network with phone banks and targeted direct mail.

The party is spending $700,000 on the fall elections.

Much of the money will be used to identify those who are likely to vote Republican, and bring them to the polls on election day.

Heen dismisses the effort.

"They've talked about it before and they haven't been able to put a campaign together," he said.