Hawaii State Senate District 8 (unopposed)

Current seat holder: Ronald Kouchi (D).

Ronald Kouchi

Ronald Kouchi (Democratic) is the incumbent member of the Hawaii State Senate representing District 8 (Kauai County), running for re-election in the November 3, 2026 general election. Kouchi was born in Los Angeles, California . He attended Drake University. He originally wanted to be a teacher, but he decided to enter politics, beginning by working on the campaign for Kauai Mayor Eduardo Malapit (D). He also served as a legislative analyst for state Rep. Dennis Yamada (D). In 1983, Kouchi ran for a seat on the Kauai County Council. He won and remained on the council for 22 years, including 12 years as the council's chair. Kouchi worked as director of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and the Kauai Visitors Bureau, and was also a registered lobbyist. In 2002, he ran for mayor of Kauai but was defeated by Bryan Baptiste (R).

“and it may take us working with the federal government to come up with a solution so that we can afford to insure our homes, protect our investment and continue to choose to live in a beautiful place like Hawaii and not with insurance premiums that are so high that we can no longer choose to live here.” (yahoo.com)
“So I think it’s fortunate that the 40 to 50 employees continue to be fully employed and Garden Isle Disposal can continue to perform the essential service of collecting the commercial refuse,.” (westhawaiitoday.com)