Trevor Ozawa leads Honolulu City Council District 4 race amid legal chaos

News admin August 9, 2026 0 Comments

Trevor Ozawa leads Honolulu City Council District 4 race amid legal chaos

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Honolulu City Council candidate Trevor Ozawa established a strong lead in the District 4 race, but ongoing legal challenges regarding disqualified incumbent Tommy Waters have left the final outcome in limbo.

Ozawa secured a significant portion of the vote. However, because Waters remained on the ballot despite being ruled ineligible by a Circuit Court judge, the method of counting votes has sparked significant controversy.

Under Honolulu City Council election rules, if a candidate wins a simple majority — 50% plus one vote — in the primary, they win the seat outright without advancing to the November general election.

The City and County of Honolulu made the controversial decision to count the approximately 7,900 votes cast for the disqualified Waters when calculating the total majority pool.

With Waters’ votes included, Ozawa doesn’t have the percentage to win the seat outright. However, if Waters’ votes are excluded from the total pool, Ozawa’s portion climbs to approximately 60% of the remaining vote — more than double the combined total of the other two active candidates, which would hand him an outright victory.

Councilmember, District IV, City & County of Honolulu (2nd report)

This discrepancy could lead to further legal action. Attorneys close to the matter suggest Ozawa could challenge the county’s decision in court, arguing that counting votes for an ineligible candidate is unlawful.

If a judge agrees, Ozawa could be declared the outright winner without a general election runoff.

Ozawa focuses on voters over litigation

Ozawa, who is a practicing attorney, said he is prepared to handle any legal challenges Waters files, but emphasized that his primary focus remains on addressing municipal issues rather than court battles.

“We will deal with that when it comes,” Ozawa said during a campaign gathering at J. Dolan’s in Kahala. “I am an attorney, as I said, and in litigation, we’ve handled that at the Circuit Court. The judge came out with a ruling finding him ineligible for this race — disqualified.”

Ozawa noted that East Honolulu residents are eager for a representative focused on local improvements rather than protracted courtroom disputes.

“I think the voters are really excited about not talking about litigation and about what can we do to fix the parks right now, the homeless situation throughout the community, and just trying to see is somebody going to show up to these meetings and will they pick up the phone at the office,” Ozawa said.