Some say Republican candidates had an added challenge of running during a presidential election year.
"I am so honored, so privileged to be your next United States senator, and to make history," said Mazie Hirono, Hawaii Senator-elect.
Mazie Hirono is joined by democrats Colleen Hanabusa and Tulsi Gabbard, all three winning the favor of Hawaii voters. But with two of the candidates facing well-known and established Republicans, some are saying that the win was based more on the coattails of the presidential race.
"A lot of people came out just to vote for Barack Obama. The natural tendency of those people is going to go straight democrat," said John Hart, political analyst.
"I don’t wanna use that as an excuse," said David Chang, Hawaii Republican Party Chair. "I think that what it shows is that because we are at a disadvantage, we need to work 10 times harder to win our races."
Chang believes that one of the problems the Republicans faced this year was getting their candidates to hit the ground running, due to last year’s redistricting.
"I think one thing we could’ve done was just really made a big push last year, saying regardless of the districts, just get your name out there, start walking door-to-door, start sign-waving, because at the end of the day, it’s that personal touch that people really want," noted Chang.
He also believes that strong endorsements by unions and low voter turnout may have also contributed to a strong Democratic vote.
"The unions are the only ones that consistently vote, it is quite obvious that they will have the candidates that they support win what we need to do as Republicans is really work on our own coalition efforts," Chang explained.
Something he is vowing they will begin working on immediately.
And although he says it will take some time to win over the state he continues to believe that the tides can be turned.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
