How Significant is Djou's Hawaii Victory?

Charles Djou’s election victory in Hawaii's first congressional district is worthy of admiration for a variety of reasons.

Charles Djou’s victory on Saturday will make him the first Republican to represent Hawaii in Congress since 1991 and only the third since statehood in 1959. Democrats will attempt to downplay Djou’s achievement as a fluke, with two high-profile candidates – Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa – splitting the supposedly-Democratic vote in a winner-take-all special election. To be sure, America’s newest congressman has an uphill battle come November, when he will face only one Democratic nominee. Furthermore, the unique nature of the race certainly makes for a convenient excuse for Democrats who are eager to dismiss Djou’s election as politically insignificant. But the Charles Djou victory is worthy of admiration nonetheless for a variety of reasons.

First of all, Djou’s win in President Barack Obama’s home congressional district is a symbolic one, especially seeing as how the GOP is currently well-positioned to also seize the old U.S. Senate seats of the president and vice-president, after taking that of Democratic icon Ted Kennedy late last year. In addition, Djou won in a district where the president beat John McCain 70 to 28 percent less than two years ago, a margin of 42 points. Djou took 39.4% of the vote to Democrats Hanabusa and Case’s 30.8% and 27.6%, respectively. He may have failed to earn an outright majority, but the ballot was crowded with 14 candidates listed, including four other Republicans. And Hawaii is a deep-blue state: a 2009 Gallup poll found only 27.6% of voters there identified themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning, compared to 54.1% who considered themselves Democrats or Democrat-leaning. The Djou campaign deserves great credit for running a grassroots campaign that rightfully focused on the economy and government spending.

Djou will bring much-needed ethnic diversity to the Republican congressional delegation as one of only two Asian-American members, the other being Lousiana’s Joseph Cao. As an attorney, law professor, military reservist, and child of immigrants, he will also bring a diversity of experience to his new job. But more importantly, his will be an independent voice in Congress and his campaign a model for future Republicans looking to earn votes in a blue state. He has only six or so months before he must once again win the approval of the voters, but if his accomplishments thus far are any indication, Djou can do it.