HONOLULU (AP) – Incumbent U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz won his Democratic primary race Saturday, defeating four challengers in his bid for his first full term in office.
Schatz easily advanced to meet Republican John Carroll in the November general election.
Schatz had an unlikely road to the Senate. When Hawaii’s beloved Sen. Daniel Inouye died in December 2012, it was left to then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill the seat. Inouye’s dying wish was to have then-U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa fill the seat, but Abercrombie instead chose Schatz, his lieutenant governor.
Two years later, Hanabusa challenged Schatz but lost in a special election to fill the last two years of Inouye’s unexpired term.
Other Democratic candidates in Saturday’s race included Makani Christensen, Tutz Honeychurch, Artuto Reyes and Miles Shiratori. The Republican candidates included Carroll, Karla Gottschalk, Eddie Pirkowski and John Roco.