Tavares Tops Mayoral Primary

Abercrombie to face Aiona in governor race.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares beat out the competition to win Saturday’s primary for Maui County Mayor. With 25.4 percent of the vote as of Sunday evening, Tavares will face second-place finisher and former Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa, who received 24.4 percent, in November’s general election.

Randy Piltz came in third with 19.4 percent, followed by Chris Hart with 10.5 percent. Molokai’s Patricia Hammond, known locally as Sally Chow (she was listed on the ballot as Sally Chow Hammond) was seventh of 11 candidates with 134 votes or 0.5 percent.

Here on Molokai, Tavares got 27.8 percent of the vote; Arakawa got 23.7 percent; Hart got 20.3 percent; and Piltz got 12.6 percent.