Voters elected the late Patsy Takemoto Mink yesterday to what would have been her seventh consecutive term as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District. [ U.S. CONGRESS ]
Mink, Abercrombie
win House seats
Mink's win means a special
election will be held Nov. 30By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.comMink, a longtime icon of the U.S. House, died on Sept. 28 -- a week after the primary election -- but still managed to beat her Republican opponent, state Rep. Bob McDermott, by a margin of 16.2 percent by the final printout, 100,671 votes to 71,661.
"I don't want to sound like a sore loser," said McDermott from a private gathering at his home, "but we didn't get any support from the local Republican Party before or after Patsy Mink died. ... We ran on the $85,000 I could gather myself.
"I told the Republicans in D.C. that I if I had $250,000 I could beat her ... but mark my words, I'm running in January."
Since Mink posthumously won yesterday's general election, a special election will be held Jan. 4 to determine who will serve the next two-year congressional term, which begins Jan. 3.
A separate special election will be held on Nov. 30 to determine who will serve out the remainder of Mink's current term.
"Whoever takes Patsy's place, they will be following an icon in Congress," said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who also won his seventh consecutive term for the 1st Congressional District. By the final printout, Abercrombie had 72.9 percent, or 131,673 votes, to Republican Mark Terry's 24.9 percent, or 45,032 votes.
"By voting for her, the voters have said they want the team to remain in Congress. ... They don't want a Republican in there that's going to just work on undermining us."
"This January election is going to be a huge election. ... Patsy would be the first to say thanks for the accolades, but we have to get someone in there that's going to carry on."
