Lihue: who represents it, and who is running
Hawaii General Election (federal, state, Office of Hawaiian Affairs and County of Kauai contests) votes on 2026-11-03. It elects u.S. Representative HI-2; Governor and Lieutenant Governor (Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami is the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor); State House District 16 (city hall) and District 17 (HD15 and SD8 were settled at the primary); OHA at-large trustees; Kauai Mayor (open seat: Councilmembers Mel Rapozo v Bernard Carvalho Jr.); all seven at-large Kauai County Council seats (14 candidates); State constitutional amendments. No U.S. Senate seat is up in Hawaii in 2026; the Prosecuting Attorney is next elected in 2028..
Holding office15
the sitting council
On the ballot24
9 sitting members running again
The official candidate list ↗ · What Lihue is like — the /local page
Federal riding: Hawaii's 2nd congressional district (Lihue Civic Center); all of Kauai County is in HI-2 — Mazie K. Hirono (Democratic)
1
Mayor
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. ✉️ Elected | Councilmember → Running for Mayor | Independent | State of Hawaii Office of Elections | |
| Mel Rapozo ✉️ Elected | Councilmember → Running for Mayor | Independent | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
2
Councilmember
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felicia Cowden ✉️ Elected | Councilmember | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| KipuKai Kualiʻi ✉️ Elected | Councilmember | Independent | At-Large (Council Vice Chair) | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Addison Bulosan ✉️ Elected | Councilmember → Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Arryl J. Kaneshiro ✉️ Elected | Councilmember → Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Fern A. Holland ✉️ Elected | Councilmember → Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Billy D. DeCosta | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Cheree A. Rapozo ✉️ | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Dane J. Smith ✉️ | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| John H. (Scooby) Mattos | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Keola Kaiminaauao | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Michelle Kaleiohi Correa | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Mike Coots | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Paul Noboru Applegate ✉️ | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Taylor H. Shigemoto | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Todd R. Ozaki | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
| Umi Martin ✉️ | Councilmember Running | Independent | At-Large | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
3
Lieutenant Governor — statewide
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derek S.K. Kawakami ✉️ Elected | Mayor → Running for Lieutenant Governor | Independent | statewide | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
4
Prosecuting Attorney — countywide
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rebecca V. Like ✉️ Elected | Prosecuting Attorney | Independent | countywide | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
5
Governor
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Green ✉️ Elected | Governor → Running | Democratic | State of Hawaii Office of Elections | |
| Gary A. Cordery | Governor Running | Republican | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
6
Lieutenant Governor
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel K. Anthony | Lieutenant Governor Running | Republican | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
7
State Representative
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke A. Evslin ✉️ Elected | State Representative → Running | Democratic | State of Hawaii Office of Elections | |
| David Kile Hazlebeck ✉️ | State Representative Running | Republican | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
8
State Senator
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ronald D. Kouchi Elected | State Senator | Democratic | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
9
Member of Parliament (MP)
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Schatz Elected | U.S. Senator | Democratic | State of Hawaii Office of Elections | |
| Mazie K. Hirono Elected | U.S. Senator | Democratic | State of Hawaii Office of Elections | |
| Jill N. Tokuda ✉️ Elected | U.S. Representative → Running | Democratic | State of Hawaii Office of Elections | |
| Brenton Awa ✉️ | U.S. Representative Running | Republican | State of Hawaii Office of Elections |
i
Notes on this record
How the lists were read, and what could not be.
- Lihue is an unincorporated census-designated place and the county seat of the County of Kauai; there is no city government. The County of Kauai (Kauai, Ni'ihau and offshore islets) is treated as the municipal level: a Mayor, an elected Prosecuting Attorney and seven Councilmembers elected at large (nonpartisan; ballot label 'NONPARTISAN SPECIAL'; council terms two years, maximum four consecutive; mayor four years, maximum two consecutive full terms).
- Official lists: (1) State of Hawaii Office of Elections 'Elected Officials' page (elections.hawaii.gov/resources/elected-officials/), read 2026-10-22; it names the incumbent and next election year for every federal, state and county office (footer 'Last Updated on November 9, 2023', but the body carries appointments dated into 2026). (2) The Office of Elections 2026 Candidate Report on olvr.hawaii.gov, read through the page's own public 'Export to CSV' button on 2026-10-22 (file CandidateFiling__20261022_1424.csv): 415 filings — 140 'In General', 37 'Elected After Primary', 135 'In Primary' (lost the primary), 99 'Issued', 2 Withdrawn, 1 Void, 1 Filed. Status 'running' = 'In General' only. The CSV carries mailing addresses and phone numbers; none were copied and the raw file was deleted after slimming. (3) County of Kauai 'Councilmembers 2024 - 2026' page (kauai.gov) for council officer titles, official kauai.gov emails and photos.
- standsFor: quoted from the candidates' own statements in the Office of Elections 2026 General Election Voter Guide (English PDF, 97 pages, Last-Modified 2026-10-13); #page anchors are PDF pages. Keola Kaiminaauao's entry reads 'No Statement Submitted'. Officeholders not on the November ballot have no statement.
- Federal: Hawaii's two senators and HI-2 representative from the Office of Elections roster. All Kauai County is in HI-2 (Census geocoder points at Lihue, Princeville, Kapaa, Anahola, Koloa, Kalaheo, Waimea, Kekaha all return CD2). Tokuda photo linked from clerk.house.gov (HEAD 200); no senate photos linked.
- State: the Lihue Civic Center (Census geocoder at 21.9747, -159.3683) is in Senate District 8 and House District 16. Sampled points put the whole county in SD8 and in House Districts 15 (Kapaa, Anahola, Princeville), 16 (Lihue) and 17 (Koloa, Kalaheo, Waimea, Kekaha); boundaries were not GIS-checked. SD8 Ronald Kouchi and HD15 Nadine Nakamura were 'Elected After Primary'; HD17 is Morikawa (D, incumbent) v Cluett (R) — not listed as people because HD17 does not contain city hall. HD16 is Evslin (D, incumbent) v Hazlebeck (R).
- Lieutenant Governor: listed only because Mayor Kawakami is a nominee; his opponent Daniel K. Anthony (R) is included. The sitting Lieutenant Governor (Sylvia Luke, on leave; Keith Regan acting since 2026-04-23 per the roster) is not listed.
- County 2026: the Mayor's seat is open (Kawakami completes two terms and is running for Lieutenant Governor); the general is Councilmember Mel Rapozo v Councilmember Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. (Felicia Cowden and three others lost the primary). All seven council seats are up: incumbents Bulosan, Holland and Kaneshiro are on the general ballot with 11 challengers (14 'In General' for 7 seats); Rapozo and Carvalho ran for mayor instead, Cowden lost the mayoral primary, and KipuKai Kuali'i has no 2026 filing. Next county elections: Council (all seven) and Prosecuting Attorney in 2028, Mayor in 2030 (primary August, general November; exact dates not yet proclaimed).
- counts.unopposed = 1: Ronald Kouchi (SD8), 'Elected After Primary' at the 2026-08-08 primary and counted under 'elected'.
- Emails: official kauai.gov addresses from the County's council and office pages for sitting county officials; for candidates only campaign-looking addresses from the Candidate Report were kept, plainly personal or unrelated business addresses were left null. No street address appears in any person row.
- Blocked / not used: capitol.hawaii.gov answers Cloudflare 403 (known; not requested), so no legislature member pages or photos. kauai.gov robots.txt disallows /A-Z-Index/County-Council/* and /A-Z-Index/Office-of-the-Mayor/* — not fetched; only /Government/... pages were used. kauai.gov Terms of Use claim copyright in all contents ('All rights reserved'); photos are linked, never copied. The Hawaii.gov Terms of Use page is script-rendered and could not be read. No Ballotpedia, Wikipedia or news used.
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Sources
Prepared 2026-10-22. Nomination papers are never opened: they carry home addresses. After voting day a candidate list becomes a result; these rows are reconciled, not deleted.