The Aloha State went for Joe Biden 64-34 after backing Hillary Clinton 62-30, which actually made Hawaii the state where Donald Trump’s margin improved the most compared to four years earlier. That shift didn’t matter much in either of the state’s very blue congressional districts, though, and Biden carried them each 64-34. The seats voted almost identically in 2016 as well, with Clinton winning the 1st 63-31 and the 2nd 61-30, respectively. A bipartisan commission will draw new lines next year, though it would be a surprise if the boundaries changed much. (Click here for a larger version of our map.)
Despite both Democratic presidential candidates’ wide victories, it wasn’t that long ago that the 1st District, which includes most of Honolulu, was a major battleground. Republican Charles Djou won the seat in a 2010 special election with just 40% of the vote thanks to a state law that required all the candidates to run on one ballot in one single round of voting, with no primary or runoff. Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, who had edged out fellow Democrat Ed Case for second, flipped the seat back that fall, however, unseating Djou 53-47.
But Djou came close to winning back the district in 2014 after Hanabusa left to unsuccessfully challenge appointed Sen. Brian Schatz in the primary. Major outside groups on both sides spent a serious amount of money on the contest, but Democratic state Rep. Mark Takai held on 52-48 in the midst of another GOP wave.
Takai announced in 2016 that his battle with pancreatic cancer would prevent him from running for reelection. Hanabusa, who earned Takai's endorsement shortly before he died that summer, went on to win back her old seat with minimal opposition but left again in 2018 to launch an ultimately failed primary bid against Gov. David Ige. This time the primary winner was Case, who had no trouble in the general election that year or this one.
In contrast, the more rural 2nd District, which includes the remainder of Honolulu as well as Hawaii’s other islands (known locally as the "Neighbor Islands"), has been in Democratic hands for decades. Indeed, one of its former representatives is Case, who was elected there in a 2002 special election but gave up the seat four years later to wage an unsuccessful primary bid against Sen. Daniel Akaka.
This year, state Sen. Kai Kahele won the primary and general elections to replace Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left to run for president. Kahele had assembled a serious campaign operation to take on Gabbard, who spent months keeping local politicians guessing whether she’d seek reelection, so he had a major head start over potential primary foes when she finally decided to call it quits and no one of note bothered to challenge him.
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