Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz won a narrow victory in his primary and will keep his seat.
On Friday, Hawaii's Democratic U.S. Senate primary finally came to an end. Last Saturday Aug. 9, the state had its primary election and appointed Sen. Brian Schatz who held a 1,635 vote lead over Rep. Colleen Hanabusa. However, because of damage from Tropical Storm Iselle, two precincts in Hawaii County (the Big Island) in the Puna region did not open and had their election day pushed back to Friday. With 8,255 registered voters it was theoretically possible, though
very unlikely, that Hanabusa could have won enough votes in these two precincts to pull off a narrow victory. Additionally, on Friday 800 ballots from Maui were discovered, having not been counted due to a technical error.
All the votes are in for this extended election and Schatz's lead actually grew by 134 votes. For Hanabusa to win, she needed massive turnout and for both precincts to overwhelmingly break for her. Neither happened: With much of Puna still recovering from the storm, turnout was a bit smaller than the county average. Furthermore, the two precincts together went for Schatz 53-45. Hanabusa netted 74 votes from the discovered Maui ballots, but it was far too little to make a difference.
Hanabusa has not ruled out challenging the results, but her options are limited. Hawaii has no automatic recount, even for close races. Hanabusa unsuccessfully attempted to delay Friday's election in court, arguing that it was held too soon after the storm for people to be notified. Hanabusa also cited other problems from the storm, stating that voters in open precincts were physically unable to get to the polls due to damage to the roads. While Hanabusa could make similar arguments again, it looks very unlikely that she could get Schatz's win overturned or get a new election called, especially when the court would not even delay Friday's vote. Indeed, in a Friday night interview, Hanabusa did not sound very enthusiastic about trying to challenge the results. Hanabusa has not said anything about a potential challenge since Friday night.
As for Schatz, he should have no problem wining the general election in November. Schatz will face former Republican state Rep. Cam Cavasso, who has fallen far short in previous bids for the seat in this heavily Democratic state. Schatz will serve out the final two years of the late Sen. Daniel Inouye's term, and will face the voters again in 2016 if he seeks a full term as expected. In any case, it looks like this long race has finally ended with a Schatz win.