The addition of a new Big Island seat in the state House has set up a battle about whether it should go to East Hawaii or West Hawaii.
The map recommended by the Technical Committee of the state Reapportionment Commission puts the eighth House seat in West Hawaii, while a plan drawn by a community group primarily in Puna puts the seat in that fast-growing region. The Big Island was granted an eighth House seat at the expense of Oahu earlier this month after calculations of nonresident military and students came in higher than first thought.
The commission had already accepted a status quo map when the new data was revealed, forcing commissioners to make last-minute changes to make new maps that reflect the new numbers. Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago has told the commission his office needs the new districts by the end of this month in order to create the districts in time for candidate qualifying, set to begin March 1.
The commission plans to conduct three meetings next week, including a Saturday meeting, to get public comments on three new maps: a Big Island House map and an Oahu House and Senate map. The meetings, via Zoom, are scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.
Public input is important, said Chairman Mark Mugiishi.
“We’re not asking you to speak for nothing, we, we hear you, we take it back, we consider it,” Mugiishi said Thursday. “Hearing doesn’t mean agree and eventually implement; there’s so many factors involved in this. It does mean we will consider and discuss and you know and if it’s appropriate, we will change as we have, and you have evidence of that.”
The map proposed by the commission would add the eighth district in North Kohala, including Hawi, Waimea and Waikoloa, while keeping House District 1 as the Hamakua district.
The map appears to center District 7, and possibly even District 8, as Republican turf, according to West Hawaii Today’s prior analyses of Trump votes in 2016 and 2020 in that region. Currently, the GOP holds just four seats in the 51-member House and one in the 25-member Senate. None of the Big Island legislators are Republican.
The nine-member commission is almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, based on constitutional requirements. Commissioner Dylan Nonaka, who heads the Technical Committee that came up with the new maps, is a Kona resident who’s the former executive director of the state Republican Party and worked in former GOP Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration.
A public-submitted map, known as the Boyea map in the commission’s redistricting software, would put the new district on the other side of the island. That map stacks four House seats in east Hawaii, with two in Hilo and two in Puna. One district would span North Hawaii, one would span South Hawaii and two would cover North and South Kona.
The proposed maps, along with meeting agendas and other materials, can be found at https://elections.hawaii.gov/about-us/boards-and-commissions/reapportionment/ .
The commission proposal splits Kailua-Kona in two, a division that concerned Rep. Jeanné Kapela, a Democrat who currently covers the sprawling Ka‘u District.
The commission’s proposed map makes her district even bigger she said. While it takes her about an hour and a half to drive to Naalehu, it would take her three hours to drive all the way to Keaau, she said.
“Whoever has that seat would end up representing 40% of the Big Island,” Kapela said. “There’s absolutely no way that anyone, any representative, can represent a district that is so enormous land wise and so diverse.”
Ralph Boyea, who drew the Boyea map, said the community plan puts two House districts into each Senate district, which helps meet constitutional requirements and makes representation easier. In addition, he said, the Boyea map has a more evenly divided population in each district compared to the commission plan.
That map’s favored by Shannon Matson, vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Party and a Hawaiian Acres resident who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for the District 3 House seat in 2020. Puna resident Ariel Murphy also said she supported the plan.
“A lot of people from all over the Big Island discussed this plan,” Murphy said. “It puts Puna subdivisions within Puna and not mixed with Hilo districts. … You worked so hard on this; let’s not screw it up.”
Nonaka said he stood behind the committee’s work.
“Our job isn’t perfect,” Nonaka said, “but I don’t think anybody’s would be in everybody’s eyes.”