Historically, when November general election results are tabulated locally, over 90% of incumbents are re-elected.
While that might seem like a staggering weighting in favor of current electees, it’s really the norm around the nation. State level incumbent re-election numbers were as follows during the latest election periods: 2025 (89%), 2024 (97%), 2023 (94%), 2022 (96%), according to Ballotpedia.
23 candidates ran unopposed in Hawai`i’s August primary. Whether that means upstart, possible contenders are getting put-off by the incredible odds against winning against an incumbent or that semi-interested people just don’t see politics as a means to an end- that’s a discussion for social scientists, political pundits, and some barstool debating.
But a concern about accountability appears repeatedly when incumbents have no challenges or challengers. This isn’t the way our political system was intended to function. Original plans called for average citizens to work in politics for a few years and then return to their regular jobs. With our part-time legislature, winners stay in office and have an off season “day job” to spend time at (with annual looming conflicts of interest).
The feeling 250 years ago was that citizens would see running for office and working for their constituents as a call to duty, a civic virtue. Originators did not include term limits in their plans; they assumed involved voters would toss out bad eggs.
When no one chooses to compete, when there’s really no pressure for incumbents to take strong stances or possibly rock the boat for often-discussed, rarely-enacted changes, do local citizens get what they need as a community? Something vital is missing when we bury our heads in the sand as over 55% of eligible voters never bother to vote here. We accept status quo, or stasis quo, while lamenting that (often) nothing seems to be getting done.
We do have empathetic, engaged elected officials. We have some who are not so good. But no one elected to serve the people deserves a free pass come election time.
This is not about one party or the other. It’s about a habitual lack of influencing our own fates. We suffer from a lack of bona fide challengers encouraging a lack of voting (even with our simple mail-in voting). “Be the change you want to see” might be an oft-used (Mahatma Gandhi) expression, but it needs to mean more here; unless same old, same old works.
Think about it…