WAILUKU – After losing his rental home in the Lahaina fire and living in his car for three and a half months, Dennis Allen became so disheartened that he voted against every local government official in office at the time of the fire.

“I can’t really say they all deserved to lose their positions,” Allen said. “But people need to be held accountable.”

Allen wasn't the only voter who felt that way. But despite some concerns about the current system and its leaders, Maui County voters sent all federal, state and county incumbents back to office. The results held few surprises in a blue state, as Maui County Democrats won both the Hawaii House and Senate and Hawaii voters generally supported Democrat Kamala Harris over eventual Republican winner Donald Trump for president .

The only Maui race in which a challenger received at least 40% of the vote was the West Maui District 14 race, which incumbent Democratic Rep. Elle Cochran won with 51.3% of the vote, while Republican Kelly Armstrong was third, according to Expressing 40.4% of votes received results around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Most Maui County Council candidates also won comfortably, although incumbent Tom Cook was only 117 votes ahead of Kelly Takaya King in the South Maui race. The Hawai'i Journalism Initiative reached out to the county clerk's office to find out how many more ballots are expected and whether there will be a recount, which state law requires in certain close races.

Political analyst Colin Moore, an associate professor at the University of Hawai'i's Economic Research Organization and the Matsunaga Institute for Peace, said concerns about the post-fire economy may have played a role in the findings. Recent UHERO reports show Maui's recovery is lagging and poverty is increasing amid job losses and declining tourism.

“Some of the incumbents who were elected are more associated with economic growth, development and being more pro-tourism,” Moore said. “I think their victory can be explained in part by the fact that there are a lot of people on Maui who are very concerned about the county's economic situation.”

Frustration over the fallout from the fire and the economy was palpable Tuesday as hundreds of voters blocked lines outside the community center late into the night.

Allen, a Libertarian who waited more than two hours to vote Tuesday night at the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku, said the fire “greatly affected his vote in the local election.” He said he heard no public warnings in his Kaalo Place neighborhood before a fast-moving wall of fire forced him to flee for his life on August 8, 2023.

“It was just one failure of leadership after another,” he said.

Allen added that the fire would also have impacted his vote in the national race if Joe Biden had still been running for president. At both the local and national levels, he wants leaders who are concerned about more than just their personal development.

“The person best suited for the job is someone who understands people’s needs because they have lived paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “You know what it's like to go to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and still be broke. …They’re all silver spoon, Ivy Leaguers. None of them fit into that category.”

Wailuku resident Dannette Caires said she has a family member who was evicted from her Kahului home because the landlord was offered a much higher rent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for house fire survivors.

“It's just completely misguided and wasteful, and that represents a lot to me,” Caires said.

She lives on Social Security and struggles to pay the rising costs of food and housing on a fixed income. Your monthly maintenance fees at Iao Parkside have recently increased by more than 50%. The government's tendency to spend other people's money “like drunken sailors” is one of the reasons Caires voted for former President Trump. She felt he would be better for the economy and was frustrated with the Democrats' results.

“I saw that what the Democrats were saying was inconsistent with what they had done during their time in office,” she said.

Other residents weren't even sure they wanted to vote after the devastation in Kula and Lahaina last year.

Ingrid Cruz lost her home and car on Front Street in the Lahaina fire and also had to change jobs. Housing and safety were among the most important local issues for Cruz. She said she received no warning about what was happening the day of the fire until she went outside and saw a nearby home engulfed in flames.

Cruz almost didn't vote this year, but ultimately decided to cast her ballot at the community center on Tuesday, motivated by her support for women's rights.

“I felt like a big tragedy had happened, but other than that I just felt like, 'Is it really going to make a difference?'” she said. “And I just thought, you know what? Be optimistic that it will make a difference.”

Moore said the election “could have actually gone two ways.”

“Given the tragedy in Lahaina, I would imagine that in some ways people will stick with the incumbents who they believe have experience,” Moore said. “In another situation, I could imagine voters deciding that they really need radical change. But I get the impression that people didn’t interpret the council’s work after the fires as really negative.”

The economy, inflation and the cost of living also likely weighed on the presidential election, although Hawaii unsurprisingly gave its four electoral votes to Vice President Harris. Moore believes her overall loss was due in part to her difficulty distancing herself from Biden's policies and his unpopularity.

“I don’t think she made many unforced errors in this campaign,” Moore said. “It may simply not have been possible for Democrats to win this election. … And look, Trump was able to portray himself as a candidate for change, and that's always a powerful thing when people are dissatisfied.”

After a contentious election cycle in which Trump was long prepared to challenge the final count, Maui County voters on both sides said they would accept the election results, albeit reluctantly, regardless of how their candidate fared.

Mark Conley, who brought his ballot to the Kīhei Community Center on Tuesday, said he voted for Harris because honesty and integrity were the most important election issues for him, and he considered Trump “the worst thing that ever happened to America.”

Regardless of the result, he said: “I will accept it because the vote is sacrosanct.”

Veronica Newman, who also stopped by the Kīhei Community Center, said she voted for Trump because she believes Harris doesn't have the skills to run the country, although she has nothing against her as a person. However, she said she would not protest if Trump lost.

“I mean, the decision is the decision,” Newman said. “I’m not upset, I’m not going crazy, but it will be what it will be.”

*Reporter Rob Collias contributed to this report.