The Hawaii County mayor’s office was up for grabs in Saturday’s primary election as current Mayor Billy Kenoi has reached his term limit, and a majority of voters put former mayor Harry Kim back in office.
Kim won with more than 50 percent of the vote, so that island’s mayoral race will not have a runoff in November’s general election.
The work is still ahead for Kim and he was asked at his Hilo campaign party what the priorities are for him when he takes office.
“After a couple of days, I’m not going to think, but the first thing I’ve got to go over mentally and make a list of people I can count on and talk to people,” he said. “because there’s work to be done. I didn’t run because I want the job, there’s work to be done. This whole state is facing crisis, whether it be homeless or other things. It’s a whole lifestyle the whole state is facing.
“There’s other big issues that we have to address. I need good people around me. They only have one mission, make things better,” he said.