When Hawaii and Alaska were admitted to the Union in 1959, both new states were granted one
at-large representative to Congress pending the next
United States census. In the
reapportionment following the
1960 U.S. census, Hawaii gained a second U.S. representative. Instead of creating two congressional districts, the state continued to elect its U.S. representatives at large. Two representatives were first elected in
1962, and Hawaii was first represented by two U.S. representatives on January 2, 1963, upon the convening of the
88th Congress. The 2nd congressional district was created in 1971 when Hawaii began electing its representatives from districts instead of electing at-large representatives statewide. The 2nd congressional district has a
Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+12. Other Democrats who announced were David Cornejo, Brian Evans (a self-described "
Berniecrat" who ran for the seat as a Republican in 2018), Noelle Famera, and Ryan Meza. Republicans Joseph Akana and Jonathan Hoomanawanui also announced. Kahele won the Democratic nomination on August 8 and the general election on November 3. == Recent election results from statewide races ==