Hawaii District 18 Has No Senator and No Election to Choose One
Residents of Hawaii Senate District 18 (covering Mililani Town, Waipiʻo Gentry, Waikele, and surrounding communities) will not vote for their next state senator. Gov. Josh Green is expected to announce an appointment as early as August 10, 2026, filling the seat that has been vacant since Sen. Michelle Kidani retired suddenly on June 30.
Kidani’s late-June departure left no time for candidates to file for the August primary. The filing deadline had already passed, so no primary race appears on the ballot for her seat. Voters are cut out of the first round of this decision entirely.
A Party Committee Screened 3 Candidates. The Public Watched.
Three people applied to fill the seat through the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi Oʻahu County Committee: Danielle Bass, a sustainability coordinator for the state Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; Sechyi Laiu, a senior Hawaii civil service administrator; and Beth Fukumoto, a former Republican state representative who joined the Democratic Party in 2017. The governor makes the final pick from that list.
Multiple sources involved in the process told Civil Beat that Bass is the likely appointee. Whoever Green selects will appear on the November ballot, giving them the incumbency advantage going into the general election.
The Likely Pick Has Ties to the Corruption Indictment
Bass previously worked as a legislative manager for former Rep. Ryan Yamane. Yamane was indicted on July 24, 2026, along with Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, former planning office director Leo Asuncion Jr., and two others in a state public corruption investigation on bribery charges. Asuncion was the director who hired Bass into her current position when it was created in 2017.
Bass has not been charged with any wrongdoing. But Democrats in the district have raised concerns about the connection, as well as about the opacity of the appointment process itself.
“A confusing appointment process, a lack of public involvement in electing a public official.”
Description of Democratic concerns, as reported by Civil Beat, August 7, 2026
The appointed senator will represent a district with no meaningful chance for voters to challenge that pick before November. An appointed incumbent running in a low-turnout general election faces very little accountability.
What You Can Do Now
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Contact Gov. Josh Green’s office at (808) 586-0034 and tell staff you expect the governor to explain publicly why Bass (or any other appointee) is the right choice given the ongoing corruption investigation involving her former employer.
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Contact the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi Oʻahu County Committee through the party’s official contact page at hawaiidemocrats.org and ask them to publish a full transcript or video of the candidate screening process before the appointment is finalized.
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Show up in November. Whoever is appointed will be on the general election ballot. Find your District 18 polling location at elections.hawaii.gov and confirm your registration before the October deadline.
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Ask your own state legislators to propose a fix. Hawaii has no law requiring a special election for mid-term state senate vacancies. Call the Hawaii State Senate at (808) 586-6720 and ask your senator to introduce legislation requiring a special election when a seat goes vacant more than 90 days before a primary.
Sources
Honolulu Civil Beat: Hawaii Governor Expected to Appoint State Senator Without Public Primary Honolulu Civil Beat: Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and Others Indicted in Hawaii Corruption Investigation Hawaii Office of Elections: District 18 Filing and Election Information