{"id":759,"date":"2026-05-30T12:08:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T12:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=759"},"modified":"2026-05-30T12:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T12:08:49","slug":"hawaii-democratic-party-convention-underway-in-waikiki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=759","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii Democratic Party convention underway in Waikiki"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Democratic Party of Hawaii is holding its state convention in Waikiki over the next two days.<\/p>\n

Read more Cycle City hit, motorcycles stolen in pre-dawn smash-and-grab<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 400 party members and advocates are meeting at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to elect a new party chair and set up their platform of issues for the next legislative sessions.<\/p>\n

While critics say the party has lost focus and its mojo, local leaders say that\u2019s not the case and are hopeful heading into the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very confident we\u2019re going to flip the U.S. House of Representatives. I\u2019m also confident that we\u2019re going to flip the U.S. Senate because we\u2019ve been organizing, we\u2019ve been out there, and we have the energy on our side,\u201d said Derek Turbin, current chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn D.C., they\u2019ve made some tremendous missteps, sending us to war in the Middle East, rising gas prices, and we\u2019re going to take aggressive actions as Democrats here in Hawaii to lower the cost of gas and lower the cost of living moving forward,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s sessions focused on educating and training candidates and advocates young and old. Participants also discussed issues they say have been threatened by the federal government, from universal access to voting to women\u2019s reproductive rights to LGBTQ plus rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important to make sure that young people have a space for advocacy and know that we can change our lives just by being there and showing up to make sure we can change these different laws, to change these policies and to make sure we can have a more progressive future,\u201d said Isabelle Enriques, national vice chair of the High School Democrats of America.<\/p>\n

Read more BJ Penn found mentally fit to stand trial<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure that our local level candidates are empowered with the best tools, knowledge, and get some practice in going door to door, you know, setting up events and really reaching voters,\u201d said Honolulu City Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, a former party chair.<\/p>\n

Another priority: strengthening ties with the federal government amid funding cuts and two lawsuits involving preferential treatment at Kamehameha Schools and over Papa Ola Lokahi\u2019s Health Scholarship Program. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat will withstand legal challenges if if a court case was ever to go up to the U.S. Supreme Court on equal protection grounds, because with a government-to-government relationship, we would definitively be a political group as opposed to a racial group,\u201d said Honolulu City Council member Esther Kia\u02bb\u0101ina, former assistant secretary for insular areas at the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need kokua by everyone in the state of Hawaii to rally behind Native Hawaiians as we stand this onslaught of constitutional attacks against Native Hawaiian programs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The convention continues Saturday with Gov. Josh Green, Sen. Brian Schatz, and 2024 vice president nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz among the keynote speakers.<\/p>\n

Read more Kauai man finds new hope after surgery to rebuild his voice<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While critics say the party has lost focus and its mojo, local leaders are hopeful heading into the midterm elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHawaii Democratic Party convention underway in Waikiki - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=759\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hawaii Democratic Party convention underway in Waikiki - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While critics say the party has lost focus and its mojo, local leaders are hopeful heading into the midterm elections.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=759\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-30T12:08:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Hawaii Democratic Party convention underway in Waikiki\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-30T12:08:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759\"},\"wordCount\":531,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1c8afcb637ed41ec7b9892b41276d7d3.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=759\",\"name\":\"Hawaii Democratic Party convention underway in Waikiki - 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