Republican Charles Djou emerged victorious tonight in the special election to fill Hawaii's vacancy in Congress, giving Hawaii its first GOP member of Congress in 20 years.

Djou won the special mail-in election with 39.7 percent of the vote in the final printout, released at 9 p.m.

The final printout represented 171,417 ballots returned by voters in the district, which stretches from Waikiki and downtown to Mililani.

Democrat Colleen Hanabusa was second at 31 percent, with Democrat Ed Case third at 27.8 percent.

“This is a momentous day,” Djou told a jubilant crowd at state party headquarters. “We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the ex-governors. We have sent a message to the national Democrats! We have sent a message to the machine.

“We have told them that we will not stand idly by as our great nation is overburdened by too much taxes, too much debt and too much wasteful spending.”

Djou is Hawaii's first GOP member of Congress since Pat Saiki, who represented the party from 1987 to 1991.

Eleven other candidates combined to receive 2.1 percent of the vote.

Former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie announced in December plans to resign his seat to concentrate solely on his campaign for governor, setting off a special election campaign unlike any in state history.

By the time he formally resigned Feb. 28, the field of three main contenders had formed and the Office of Elections—after openly considering whether to postpone the vote until the September primary to save money—settled on a mail-in process at the cost of about $1 million.

A Star-Bulletin/KITV poll in January gave Case, the former 2nd District congressman, the edge on name recognition and favorability, followed by Hanabusa, the state Senate president, and then Djou, a City Councilman.

The race was on the radar of the national parties and political pundits, but many expected the seat to remain Democratic in a district that supported Obama by 72 percent.

Sensibilities changed in January after Republican Scott Brown flipped the seat formerly belonging to Democrat Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts.

Suddenly, national eyes were on Hawaii as the GOP went looking for the “;next Scott Brown,”; and a chance to score an upset on Obama's home turf heading into the fall midterm elections.

Money poured in—more than $1 million each for Djou and Hanabusa—as Republicans hoped to capitalize on the winner-take-all nature of the special election and “;shoot the gap”; amid a split Democratic electorate.

Divisions in the party deepened after U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, still bitter over Case's challenge to U.S. Sen. Dan Akaka in 2006, threw his considerable support behind Hanabusa.

His influence and support kept the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from making an endorsement in the race. The committee reportedly sought to back Case as the more viable candidate.

After spending $300,000 on ads attacking Djou, the committee pulled out of Hawaii earlier this month, citing the inability of the local party to rally behind a single candidate.