Cabanilla wins
Tamayo post
The incumbent had withdrawn
because of impending duty in Iraq
Voters in the state House 42nd District bailed out state Democratic Party leaders from a potentially embarrassing situation.
The voters in the Democratic primary for the Waipahu-Ewa Beach are sending Rida Cabanilla to the Nov. 2 general election instead of incumbent Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo, whose name remained on the ballot even though she withdrew from the race to go to Iraq as a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard.
To even make it to the general election, Tamayo would have had to win yesterday's Democratic primary.
"That would have been another challenging situation," Galuteria said, since she would have faced Republican opposition in November.
Cabanilla received 1,382 or 58 percent of the vote to 541 or 23 percent of the vote for Tamayo in the Democratic primary. Genaro garnered 146 votes while Gerald Vidal received 91.
Cabanilla will face Republican Trevor Koch in the November general election. Koch ran unopposed yesterday.
Next door, in the state House 43rd District of Ewa Beach, incumbent Democrat Romy Mindo pulled out a come-from-behind victory in the final printout. Mindo was trailing Ewa Neighborhood Board Chairwoman Tesha Malama in the first two printouts but finished on top.
Mindo, a past president of Local 5 Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, was among a number of freshman Democrats the GOP had targeted for defeat in the November general election. Republican candidate Kymberly Pine ran unopposed yesterday.
Pine is the director of minority (Republican) research in the state House of Representatives.
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