Kauaʻi elects one newcomer to County Council; DeCosta and Kagawa lose seats in latest results

In the race for the seven seats on the Kauaʻi County Council in the 2024 General Election, six current or former council members, along with one newcomer, have won.

Current Councilmember Billy DeCosta has lost his seat, and Councilmember Ross Kagawa is also likely to lose his seat, according to the latest results posted by the Hawaiʻi Office of Elections at 12:19 p.m. Wednesday.

Kagawa, who was trailing behind relative newcomer Fern Holland by nine votes in initial results, moved back into the seventh and final seat early Wednesday morning. However, in updated results, Holland has surpassed Kagawa by 102 votes to reclaim the seat.

But the results are not final. In a phone call with the County of Kaua’i Elections Division shortly before 1:30 p.m., a representative said there were still ballots being scanned.

Leading the voting is incumbent Councilmember Bernard Carvalho, who also served as Kauaʻi mayor from 2008 to 2018. He received 15,391 votes (7.2%). Carvalho also finished in first place in the primary.

Current Council Chair Mel Rapozo, a retired police officer who was first elected to the council in 2002, is in second with 14,365 votes (6.7%).

Arryl Kaneshiro, a former Kauaʻi County council member from 2014 to 2022, was termed out in 2022. He currently has 13,021 votes (6.1%) for third place. Kaneshiro is a sheep rancher who also is employed as an agricultural consultant for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s 1,400-acre private compound on the North Shore of Kaua’i, Wired reported in December 2023.

Councilmember Addison Bulosan, who was initially in sixth place before moving up to fifth, has risen to fourth place in the latest count with 12,350 votes (5.8%).

Incumbent Felicia Cowden has moved up one spot to fifth place in the latest results, with 12,285 votes (5.8%). Cowden has served in the role since 2018, so this will be her final term in office before terming out.

Current Vice Chair of the Council, KipuKa’i Kualiʻi, is in sixth place with 12,251 votes (5.8%). Kuali’i was first elected to the council in 2011. At the time, he was reported to be the first openly gay politician in the area, and the third openly LGBTQ elected official in the state. 

Holland, who has never held office, has claimed the seventh and final seat. She received 12,011 votes (5.6%).

After finishing ninth in the primary in August, Holland had said she didn’t expect to win a seat: “I think I was kind of expecting to come in ninth because I know that there are eight established names that I’m running against. And again, I kind of expected that to be right on the tail of the incumbents,” she said at the time.

Kagawa experienced the biggest shift from the August primary election, dropping four places to eighth. Kagawa received 11,909 votes (5.6%).

Kagawa narrowly lost the last election in 2022, when he also finished in eighth place. However, he later returned to the role in February 2023 to replace former council member and current state Rep. Luke Evslin.

DeCosta, who was suspended from his teaching position at Kapaʻa High School earlier this year following an investigation by the State Department of Education, has remained in ninth place in all four printouts.

DeCosta currently has 9,943 votes (4.7%). He was also the only council member to place out of the top seven during the primary, when he finished in eighth place.

After the primary, DeCosta said he expected to gain more votes during the General Election: “I believe a lot of my supporters don’t really vote during the primary. They’re more of a general election kind of voters. And the reason behind it is because it’s a strong presidential race that’s happening throughout our country, and I believe that’s going to bring out all the voters during that time.” 

Candidates finishing in 10th through 14th are fisherman Abe Apilado Jr. with 5,946 votes (2.8%) votes, retired fire captain Butch Keahiolalo with 5,191 votes (2.4%), Sherri Cummings with 4,155 votes (2.0%), Jakki Nelson with 3,380 votes (1.6%) and Bart Thomas with 3,290 (1.5%).

Updates:

• This story has been edited to reflect the latest results as of 6:07 a.m. Wednesday.
• This story has been edited to reflect the latest results as of 12:19 p.m. Wednesday.