Late Republican votes lead to recount, GOP wins in Legislature

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Hawaii State Legislature has more Republicans today than it has in decades thanks to the popularity of Donald Trump, even though he lost Hawaii 2-1.

Last-minute GOP voters saved one lawmaker on the verge of defeat.

The fourth printout, posted Wednesday evening, showed Republican incumbent Rep. Elijah Pierick winning by a mere 20 votes over Democrat House candidate Corey Rosenlee to represent Royal Kunia, Village Park, Honouliuli, Hoopili, and Waipahu.

Rosenlee had been in the lead until then.

The law requires recounts if the margin is less than 0.25%, which amounts to 25 votes in House District 39. The razor-thin, 20-vote margin triggered a painstaking recount of nearly 10,000 ballots.

With most ballots mailed in or dropped off at various locations, ballots are no longer sorted into precinct locations, which meant the ballots had to be found among the more than 300,000 votes cast on Oahu, according to Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago.

“We know everybody wants prompt finality. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing now rather than later,” Nago said.

But recount results posted Friday showed no change.

Election officials say 75 ballots need signature checks in that district. If all are counted, Rosenlee would need to get 70% of the vote to take the lead.

Rosenlee told Hawaii News Now Thursday that the last 48 hours were a rollercoaster of emotion.

The high school teacher and former Hawaii State Teachers Association leader expected he’d be joining other House Democrats at their caucus meeting Thursday.

Rosenlee said he realized recounts rarely change the outcome by more than a couple of poorly ballots, usually ones not cleanly marked by the voter.

Rosenlee said as a history teacher he regularly explains the importance of voting in democracy.

“I’ll just be a great learning lesson about why every vote matters and why they need to register and go out there and vote,” he said.

Many of the voters who braved the lines at Kapolei Hale were Republican. A Hawaii News Now analysis shows that with total turnout at just over a half million voters, about 80,000, or 16%, were cast in the final days.

Half of them cast votes for Donald Trump, and Republicans down the ballot benefited.

Pierick said he was grateful to those last-hour voters who endured rain and darkness to cast their votes.

“They stayed that long past 7 p.m. to cast their votes and I am so grateful that they did,” Pierick said. “It determined the elections in Hawaii.”

State Sen. Brenton Awa, who was elected Senate minority leader by veteran Sen. Kurt Favella and newly elected Sen. Samantha DeCorte from Waianae, agreed there was a powerful Trump impact on certain districts, including his that stretches from Windward Oahu to the North Shore.

“The Kapolei side out to the west coast, west side, and our North Shore, Koolauloa area, more red shows up,” Awa said. “More red residents, or voting residents, show up during presidential elections.”

In the House, all six Republican incumbents were reelected, and there are three new members: Chris Thomas from Waianae, Julie Reyes from Ewa Beach, and Garner Shimizu from Moanalua.

The Minority Caucus met Thursday afternoon and re-elected Rep. Lauren Cheape Matsumoto as minority leader.

“We have nine members in the House now, and we haven’t seen those numbers in 20 years,” she said. “I think the reason we’ve gained so many seats are that people are really focused on the economy, the cost of living, and that’s what we provide.”

House Democrats also caucused Thursday and elected a new House speaker, Nadine Nakamura from Kauai, who said she welcomed the newcomers, even non-Democrats.

“It changes the complexity, the dynamics, the conversation. I think that’s a good thing,” she said.

When the Republican House members under reelection in two years, Trump won’t be on the ticket and Democrats will certainly be trying to take those seats back.

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