HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – It’s a crowded race for Hawaii County mayor as candidates seek to prevent incumbent Mitch Roth from serving a second term.
On Thursday night, Roth and three of his competitors appeared on Insights on PBS Hawaii.
Public safety and infrastructure was a key topic of debate.
His opponents say West Hawaii, in particular, has long been neglected.
Candidate Kimo Alameda led the Hawaii County Fentanyl Task Force and was executive director for Hawaii County Office of Aging. “West Hawaii needs attention and they’ve been lacking that attention from what I believe and from what I’m hearing for almost eight years, he said, during the PBS Forum.
“Our administration would bring that attention to West Hawaii because they deserve it and it’s long overdue.”
“I’m in Kona at least once a week, several times a week, but all of our directors make it over to Kona on a regular basis,” replied Roth.
Challenger Seaula Tupai, Jr. ran for lieutenant governor in 2020 and is the senior pastor at Overcoming Faith Center in Hilo. “A lot of the infrastructure is dilapidated in certain parts of the community,” he said.
Candidate Breeani Kobayashi is the general manager of SCP Hilo Hotel. “I think we definitely need a strategic plan for every district in every community and everyone should know about it,” she said.
Despite the criticism, Roth says the county has made strides under his leadership.
“When we came in, UHERO claimed that we had the worst permitting system in the country. UHERO just came out with a recent report and it shows that we’re actually the best in the state,” he said.
“That being said, there’s so much room for improvement.”
The other candidates for Hawaii county mayor are Daniel Cunningham, Kavin Kahikina and Yumi Kawano. If no candidate gets the majority of votes, the top two vote-getters go to a run-off in the general election.
The primary election in Hawaii is Aug. 10 and the general election is Nov. 5.
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