Jill Tokuda

Wednesday, November 4, 2026 73° Today's Paper

CTY Dem Watch Party 2026 Nov 3 SPT - Photo by Marco Garcia / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER Congresswoman Jill Tokuda speaks at a Democrat watch party at Aloha Tower on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 in Honolulu.

CTY Dem Watch Party 2026 Nov 3 SPT - Photo by Marco Garcia / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER Congressman Ed Case speaks at a Democrat watch party at Aloha Tower on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 in Honolulu.

U.S. Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda easily won reelection Tuesday, joining a nationwide “blue tsunami” that will see a return of Democratic control of both the House and Senate when the next Congress is sworn in.

The first election results of all mail-in ballots and early in-person voting Tuesday showed Tokuda beating her Republican challenger, state Sen. Brenton Awa (R, Kaneohe-Laie-Mokuleia), to represent the 2nd Congressional District covering rural Oahu and the neighbor islands.

Awa’s seat in the state Legislature was not up for election this year, so he was in a safe position to challenge Tokuda and will return to the state Senate when the next session begins in January.

Case swept to victory over a field of three challengers to represent the 1st Congressional District comprising urban Honolulu, besting Adriel Lam, a Republican, Jordan Conley of the Green Party and nonpartisan candidate Nathan Berning.

Neither of Hawaii’s two U.S. senators — Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono — were up for election Tuesday.

But all four members of the state’s congressional delegation agreed separately that the priority for Democrats in Congress is going to be bringing down the cost of living — everything from fuel to healthcare to groceries — while holding President Donald Trump’s administration accountable as a coequal branch of government, which they say has been lacking under Republican control of both the House and Senate.

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Tokuda said House Democrats already have plans to address the economy in the first “100 hours” — not 100 days — after the next Congress takes office in January.

Members plan to call for suspension of the federal gas tax and curtailing Trump’s ongoing tariff wars, including with Canada and other once-friendly nations, and demand that the president end his war in Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has stalled fuel exports around the world and driven up prices for gas and diesel, contributing to inflation for nearly all consumer goods.

A close second in priorities for House Democrats, according to Tokuda, will be holding the president, his family and his associates accountable for enriching themselves since Trump returned to power two years ago, in part, by allegedly using inside knowledge of federal policies to benefit themselves.

She also anticipates House hearings and investigations of Trump family members and former and current administration officials and cabinet secretaries, starting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose actions have also angered House Republicans over the war in Iran and lethal attacks on fishing vessels and crews suspected of drug smuggling, often without proof, Tokuda said.

But it was the state of the U.S. economy that moved voters to turn out on Tuesday, she said.

“Long-term real affordability only comes by holding people accountable for the bad decisions that got us to this place,” Tokuda said. “When you launch a war on Iran unilaterally, when you tariff our allies who provide our goods and services, this is how life becomes quickly unaffordable.”

Case, who serves on two House appropriation subcommittees with oversight of the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, said Democrats have to remember that “top of mind” for Americans “is the cost of living. That’s what this election was centrally run on.”

“The voters of the country returned a Democratic majority to Congress because they felt that this current administration and the Republican majority wasn’t addressing that issue,” Case said.

At the same time, he added, House Democrats must ensure they fulfill their constitutional role to act as a “responsible check-and-balance” on Trump and his administration as a coequal branch of the federal government.

“The president requested a referendum on the president’s performance,” Case said. “And the voters of the country expressed their disagreement with the direction not only of the country but of this president. And so a Democratic majority is responsible now for providing an alternative path for the country that both provides an effective check and balance on this president, which has been lacking for two years, and for affirmatively addressing concerns, whether they are the cost of living or corruption in government or saving Social Security and Medicare or ensuring healthcare to millions of Americans who are facing no healthcare right now or completely unaffordable healthcare, environment and climate change.

“Certainly the Ukraine war, the Iran war, the shaky economy and the perception of difficulty in getting and holding solid jobs, civil rights — all of these are areas are also top of mind to most Americans and they didn’t feel the Republican majority and the president were addressing … ,” Case said.

“There’s going to be a glaring spotlight on Democrats to assure people that they can — we can — provide the answers in those areas in an effective way.”

In their oversight role as the House majority, Case also advised Democrats against holding hearings that will result in “two years of political theater, (or else) we will essentially fall into the same place as the Republicans have been in.”

Hirono agreed that Democrats need to address the economy by holding the Trump administration accountable for what it’s done to drive up consumer prices while enriching millionaires and billionaires, in part, by slashing programs like the Affordable Care Act, SNAP food benefits and other programs that help millions of Americans, while providing tax benefits for the rich.

“It’s all on the table,” Hirono said. “I don’t think there’s an either-or situation because we have an administration, or a regime as I call it, that has pretty much dismantled all levels of government except for the Department of Defense, which is getting over a trillion dollars even as they’re dismantling Medicaid, for example,” she said.

“So, it’s not an either-or choice. We know that people are suffering in terms of affordability issues, including the cost of gasoline, diesel for farmers, fertilizer, housing, healthcare, you name it. As I visit people in Hawaii, businesses, small businesses are being impacted by the tariffs.”

Schatz said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the No. 1 priority for Democrats “is ending the war of choice in Iran that has jacked up gas prices in Hawaii and everywhere else. We’re going to work to reverse the deep cuts this administration has made to SNAP and Medicaid that have made it more expensive for people to get food and healthcare. And we’re going to hold this out-of-control administration accountable. Democrats are going to work every day to make life more affordable for people, and I hope the results of this election will encourage President Trump and Republicans to work with us.”

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