Early voting results showed Hilo psychologist Kimo Alameda on track to defeat Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth in a stunning upset in a contest that has seen heated arguments over Roth's record and achievements came.

The first results released after midnight Wednesday had Alameda with 35,577 votes to 30,717 votes for Roth. No further results were released as of 4 a.m

Roth, 59, was elected mayor in 2020 after serving as Hawaii County prosecutor for eight years.

Alameda was formerly director of the Hawaii County Office of Aging before taking over as CEO of Bay Clinic Health Center. He stepped down from that job after Bay Clinic merged with West Hawaii Community Health Center in 2022.

Hawaii County voters also appear to be ousting Hawaii County Councilwoman Cindy Evans after just one term, replacing her with James Hustace. In the early election results, Hustace had 4,191 votes, more than 52% of the votes counted, compared to 3,192, or nearly 40%, for Evans.

Evans served as a state representative from 2002 to 2018. She was elected to the county council in 2022 and represents the municipal district that includes Waimea, Waikoloa and Hawi.

Both Evans and Hustace are residents of Waimea. Hustace grew up in Waimea and is a certified art appraiser and president of the Waimea Community Association.

In Puna, incumbent City Councilman Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder defeated former District Public Works Director Ikaika Rodenhurst with 3,556 votes to Rodenhurst's 2,655 votes, nearly 51% to nearly 38%. This race was a rematch of 2022, when Kanealii-Kleinfelder defeated Rodenhurst in the general election by just 379 votes.

Voters on the Big Island also appear to overwhelmingly approve a technical change to the Hawaii County Charter that would limit the amount of time mayors have to appoint their department heads. Roth had spoken out against the idea, saying mayors should be given as much time as necessary to select the best candidates.

Hotly contested race for mayor

The crucial question in the Big Island mayoral runoff was where supporters of a third candidate in the primary, Breeani Kobayashi, would land.

Roth and Alameda were the top vote-getters in the Aug. 10 primary, but neither was able to secure enough support to win the primary. Kobayashi came third with 9,907 votes.

This large pool of Kobayashi voters became crucial to both Roth and Alameda in the general election, and Kobayashi supported Roth late in the campaign.

Despite this support, Alameda said he hoped to win over most of Kobayashi's supporters, citing the fact that the votes for her came from people who wanted a change from the incumbent government. The election result seems to have proven him right.

Alameda said Wednesday morning that he believes he was able to defeat Roth in part because Alameda has shown during his two-year campaign for the county's top job that he is truly committed to the race.

The race was interrupted by tragedy for the Alameda family last spring when Kimo's wife, Star, 55, was found lifeless in the couple's home and died after emergency responders were unable to revive her. Alameda's campaign paused for a time, but on June 8 he announced that he would resume his run for mayor.

Alameda said he believes Big Island voters responded positively to “my ability to bring people together, because you need a team, you can't do it alone.” So when I started bringing people together – in the North, in the South, in the East and the West – there was a kind of synergy, if you will, to convince other people that we are serious and that we can beat an incumbent.”

He described Roth as a tough opponent and a “nice guy” who put together a good team, “but I just don't think it worked out for the Big Island.”

Roth and Alameda are both affable candidates, but they clashed in the general election campaign when Alameda alleged that Roth had made untrue statements about his record.

Roth claimed that affordable housing was key to stemming the exodus of locals from the island, boasting in forums and campaign literature that there were currently 8,100 affordable housing units in the development pipeline on the Big Island.

He also said his administration has done such an effective job of reforming the county's cumbersome building permit process that residential building permits are now issued in just 30 days.

Alameda called both claims “misleading.” He disputed that the county's development pipeline included 8,100 affordable units, citing reports from supporters and family members in the construction industry. He said insiders complain that developers are “held hostage” in the county’s permitting process.

Roth, meanwhile, said he understands that the Bay Clinic has had so much financial difficulty under Alameda's leadership that it would have “gone under” had it not merged with the West Hawaii Community Health Center.

Alameda called that a lie and said he was hired to shore up Bay Clinic's finances and had done so successfully before the merger.

Roth secured a range of political support, including support from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hawaii.

But Roth was snubbed by some public sector unions widely seen as politically important. The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the United Public Workers and the Hawaii Government Employees Association – the largest union in the state – all supported Alameda.

Each of these unions is demanding millions of dollars in back pay for the work done by thousands of their members during the pandemic. The unions explicitly demand hazard pay in their contracts, but Hawaii County, under Roth's leadership, has not agreed to the payments.

Amendments to the Articles of Association

Hawaii County voters welcomed two of three proposed county charter changes on the ballot this year.

The most significant is Proposition No. 2, which would require the mayor to appoint all department heads – such as the director of the Public Works Department and the head of the Parks and Recreation Department – ​​within 30 days of taking office.

The proposed change also requires the mayor to fill department head positions within 60 days if those positions become vacant midway through the mayor's term.

This charter change was proposed by the county council, but Roth vetoed the measure because he said the 30- and 60-day appointment windows did not allow enough time for a statewide or national search for the best candidates.

The council overrode Roth's veto and placed the matter on the general ballot for voters to decide.

This measure was on track to pass by a wide margin in initial votes, with 48,750 votes in favor and just 12,551 against.

Also receiving approval was Charter Proposal No. 1, which would allow some newly elected members of the Hawaii County Council to take office immediately if a vacancy occurs.

In recent years, council members have run for state legislative seats several times, winning significantly in both the primary and general elections. These council members then resigned their council mandates before their council terms ended in December, leaving a vacancy on the council.

Meanwhile, candidates running to replace outgoing council members have occasionally even won primaries. However, the newly elected council members could not take office until December. As a result, some council seats are temporarily vacant.

The proposed charter change would allow newly elected council members in this scenario to take office immediately following their election victory to fill the vacancy on the council.

This proposal was also approved with a large majority, with 47,072 votes in favor and 13,407 votes against.

But voters rejected Proposal No. 3, which was put to a vote by the council to adjust the operation of the county's volunteer expense commission. This commission is intended to find ways to make government more efficient and effective.

The charter requires each mayor to appoint the nine commissioners one year after the mayor takes office, with one commissioner appointed from each of the nine municipal districts. The new commission will then have 11 months to examine the entire district government and make recommendations.

The amendment would have changed that and given the mayor 18 months after taking office to appoint the commission. The Commission would then have had 20 months from the date of its appointment to prepare its recommendations, giving it more time to do its work.

This idea did not fare well in the polls: 35,371 were against the idea and only 24,245 were in favor.