Monday May 24, 2010
Pro-family Candidate in Obama’s Home District Wins House Special Election
By Peter J. Smith
HONOLULU, May 24, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Republican Charles K. Djou, the only pro-family candidate in a three-way race with two Democratic opponents, won Hawaii’s special election on Saturday for the first Congressional District – the home turf to President Obama that overwhelmingly supported him in the 2008 presidential election.
When the votes were counted, Djou had captured 39.5 percent of the vote, with Colleen Hanabusa in second at 30.8 percent, and Ed Case finishing last with 27.6 percent. The special election was held to replace retired Democrat Congressman Neil Abercrombie, who left office several weeks before the historic vote on national health-care reform to pursue a bid for governor.
Djou is the first Republican in 20 years to represent Hawaii in the US House of Representatives since Pat Saiki. The district, which contains the state capital of Honolulu, voted 72 percent for President Obama in 2008, who was born and grew up part of his life there.
Although less warm with the homosexualist movement as a candidate, Obama has since openly courted the lobby, urging passage of a homosexualist anti-discrimination law, opposing the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and promising to remove the ban on open homosexuals in the military, among other initiatives.
Although the race was largely fought on economic issues, social issues entered into play when Djou came out blasting the Hawaii legislature in late April for reviving and passing a bill to legalize same-sex “marriage” in everything but name on the last day of its legislative session, without giving voters forewarning. (see coverage here)
Djou stated that he opposed same-sex “marriage” and civil unions, and condemned the legislature’s surreptitious passage of a bill already rejected by the people of Hawaii. He also called out his two future Democratic competitors for supporting marriage rights for homosexual couples.
“Unlike both Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa, my two major opponents in this congressional campaign, I will not ignore Hawaii voters and look forward to their judgment in our upcoming special election,” he stated in a press release at the time.
The timing of the legislature’s approval of the bill could have helped widen Djou’s margin of victory. At the time, voters had not yet received their mail-in ballots, and passage of the bill was predicted to anger the island’s socially conservative working-class Democrats.
Republican state Rep. Gene Ward indicated that the Democrats had invited political suicide by passing the bill before the special election. He told the Star Bulletin, “This is going to cause chaos in the community.”
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle has not indicated whether she will sign or veto the legislation sent to her desk by the legislature. She has until July to make a decision.
Djou will represent the state in Congress until January, finishing out Abercrombie’s term. He will have to face off against a Democrat opponent again in November in order to secure a two-year term.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Hawaii House Sneaks Gay Civil Unions Bill out of the Closet and into Law with Surprise Vote
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10043004.htmlPro-family