IHSN’s Endorsement Criteria for 2026 CD1 Primary

Central to the IHSN endorsement process is ensuring the candidates we endorse align with us on policies and messaging. Before announcing our endorsement, we ensured the candidate agrees with the IHSN positions below. Following endorsements, we will use this as a report card to assess our endorsee’s performance once in office.

Personal Priorities

The candidate must: 

1. Recognize that United States democracy is in the worst peril of our lifetimes. 
2. Refuse to take contributions from Fascism Funders—the techno-fascists of Silicon Valley, billionaire donors helping to enrich Trump and his cronies, cryptocurrency scammers, and AIPAC.
3. Use the power of a congressional majority to investigate and prosecute the Trump regime's abuses and corruption.
4. Commit to restoring constitutional and legal protections to all U.S. residents. 
5. Commit to aggressively fight the Trump administration’s lawlessness, racism, corruption, cruelty, dishonesty, vendetta politics, economic exploitation, authoritarian practices, and destruction of the post-1945 liberal world order. 

Ethics

The candidate has to demonstrate and have a record of impeccable personal ethics. To the extent there are any prior missteps, the candidate must make a full public accounting.

Campaign

The candidate must 

1. Run a viable campaign and (in confidence) demonstrate a credible path to winning.
2. Recognize that we need to have a single challenger to Ed Case.

Policy Positions

The candidate must agree to work toward the following policies as a north star of values for their actions as a member of Congress.

I. Reclaiming Democracy from the Billionaire Class

• Eradicate Dark Money: Our government must answer to voters, not the highest bidder. We must purge the corrupting influence of corporate cash from our elections by overturning Citizens United and restricting the way corporate PACs fund their PACs (e.g., require opt-in for employee contributions and shareholder approval for political campaign spending). 
• Fight public corruption (i.e., bribery, domestic and foreign emoluments, insider stock trading, personal use of government resources, unregulated crypto, dark money, and undue corporate influence). We need the full oversight authority of Congress to expose the grift, hold the perpetrators to public account, and create a record for future prosecution.
• Supreme Court Accountability: The era of an untouchable Supreme Court must end. We support imposing an18-year term limit and a mandatory, enforceable code of ethics for justices to ensure that no justice is above the law. 
• Prioritize Affordability for all residents for housing, healthcare, food, and other basic necessities and ensure that wealthy residents and businesses pay their fair share.  
• Restore a Free and Independent Press. Reaffirm 1st Amendment protections. Restore the independence of the FCC. Set clear ownership rules to all media and digital services to prevent monopoly control of media.

II. Defeating Authoritarianism

• Protect Voting Rights: Aggressively defend and promote the right to vote and dismantle barriers to the ballot box. Push for a 50-state Voting Rights Act to ensure minority interests are not gerrymandered and credential-burdened out of a voice.  
• Restore Accountability to Federal Law Enforcement: Restore accountability among DHS agencies by requiring ICE and CBP to adopt the same training, transparency, and accountability measures required in every other federal, state, county, and municipal law enforcement agency. End qualified immunity to ensure that federal law enforcement agents are prosecuted for abuses of power.
• Strict legal limits for all technology use in law enforcement. No artificial intelligence (AI) models should be permitted to use force or deprive people of rights without meaningful human control and accountability. Further, AI models, facial recognition and data collection systems must not be employed to assign people a score based on their behavior, traits, or predicted behavior.

III. Ending Economic Tyranny

• Universal Healthcare: Healthcare is a non-negotiable human right, not a profit center. Dismantle the predatory private insurance system and implement a single-payer program that covers every person in this country.
• Crushing Corporate Monopolies: Wage war on corporate greed by enforcing strict antitrust laws to prevent or break up monopolies that price-gouge families and stifle competition. Reform the federal tax code to make it truly progressive, without loop-hole deductions and credits only available to the wealthy, along with implementing a wealth tax on the ultra-rich to ensure they finally pay their fair share.
• Unapologetic Worker Power: Every worker deserves a living wage and the absolute right to unionize without fear. We will support raising the federal minimum wage to a living wage and investing billions in high-paying, green-energy jobs and essential educational programs for the next generation.
• Restoring Human Services Programs: Restore budget cuts made to all programs that protect children, elders, veterans and the poor. The Child Care Tax Credit must be made permanent. T-K education, mental health services, and healthy food and nutrition programs will be expanded and supported.

IV. Climate Survival: The Green New Deal

• Total Energy Transition: The climate crisis is a declaration of war against our future. We must work to immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and launch a massive mobilization to achieve 100% renewable energy, including essential baseload power. 
• Environmental Justice: Demand an end to the poisoning of our air and water, and insist that corporate polluters be held criminally liable. Prioritize investments in communities that have borne the brunt of industrial neglect. 

V. Human Rights Without Compromise

• Codifying Reproductive Freedom: We must fight to immediately pass a federal law to guarantee the right to abortion and reproductive healthcare nationwide. We will treat any attempt to control a person’s body as a fundamental violation of civil rights.   
• Ending Gun Violence: We can no longer allow the gun lobby to dictate the safety of our children and communities. Support the ban of assault weapons. Implement universal background checks and red-flag laws. Support amnesty programs to reduce the number of guns in circulation and do not relax “safe carry” regulations, while also protecting “safe spaces.”
• Housing is a Human Right: We must end the national housing crisis by strengthening programs such as first-time home owner credits, revamping federal mortgage programs, and encouraging via federal funding grants housing that reflects our workforce’s needs. 
• Codify protections for same-sex marriage. Ensure that marriage equality, protected under the Obergefell decision, remains guaranteed under federal law and cannot be overturned by future lawsuits.
• Ensure equal protection under the law for LGBTQIA+ persons. Codify that 14th Amendment protections apply to all people, without regard to gender preference or biology.
• Immigration Reform: Our immigration system must be humane, efficient, and honor the rule of law. This requires the funding of an adequate number of immigration judges to ensure timely adjudication of cases. We also need a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, an overhaul of the asylum system to provide immediate work permits, and reform detention conditions to prioritize human dignity.

VI. A Moral Global Presence

• Demilitarized Foreign Policy: We reject a foreign policy based on endless war and corporate interests. We advocate for shifting resources away from a bloated military budget and toward global stability, human rights, and climate cooperation.
• Tech Accountability: We demand an end to the lawlessness of Big Tech by repealing Section 230 protections and forcing digital platforms to be held accountable for the harm, misinformation, and radicalization of users they profit from.

VII. Hawai‘i: Honoring Unique Realities

• Localized Federal Policy: We will ensure federal policies reflect Hawai‘i’s unique geographic environmental and cultural heritage and needs, instead of employing a "continental-centric" approach. This specifically includes embracing the Spirit of Aloha in actions, programs and policies as mandated by the Hawai‘i State Constitution.  
• Racial Equity: We are committed to addressing the racial inequities and systemic biases that continue to affect Native Hawaiians and other disadvantaged groups throughout the islands.

VIII. Honoring the Constitution and Obeying the Rule of Law

• Upholding Constitutional rights: Protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, including freedoms of speech and the press, due legal process, equal rights and birthright citizenship. The duties to protect and serve subject to the constitutional protection of all people from government excess need to be enforced among all officials, regardless of rank.
• Fight to maintain the constitutional separation of powers: Ensure Congress controls spending and the president executes the laws passed by Congress, including the use of funds appropriated for specific purposes.
• Make use of military force subject to Congressional authorization. We have seen unchecked use by the executive of military force abroad without Congressional approval. This needs to stop.
• End attempts to nullify the judicial system: Force the administration to comply with court orders and injunctions.

April 24, 2026 Clarification

The Personal Priorities opening section above states that the candidates must: 

Refuse to take contributions from Fascism Funders—the techno-fascists of Silicon Valley, billionaire donors helping to enrich Trump and his cronies, cryptocurrency scammers, and AIPAC.  

Under Policy Positions above, the first paragraph reads:

Eradicate Dark Money: Our government must answer to voters, not the highest bidder. We must purge the corrupting influence of corporate cash from our elections by overturning Citizens United and restricting the way corporate PACs fund their PACs (e.g., require opt-in for employee contributions and shareholder approval for political campaign spending).

Both candidates agreed to both statements. Nonetheless, there has been some public confusion about the meaning of dark money.  To clear this up, we provide the explanation below.

How we define Dark Money

By dark money, we mean untraceable funds with undisclosed donors spent to benefit political campaigns.  The primary vehicle for this is a “Super PAC”. Officially known as "Independent Expenditure-Only Committees," these emerged after the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Typically, they are used in conjunction with shell corporations, organized to be qualified as nonprofits under U.S. Internal Revenue Code  §501(c)(4). These nonprofits do not have to disclose who their donors are. A donor seeking anonymity can give to a shell nonprofit, which, in turn, gives to the Super PAC.

The Super PACs are frequently confused with traditional PACs. Traditional PACs are organizations that pool donations from individuals to support candidates. Because they can donate money directly to a candidate's campaign, they are strictly regulated by the FEC with specific dollar limits.

Under longstanding federal law, both corporations and unions use Traditional PACs to pool employee or member donations. These donations are reported by name in the candidate’s quarterly FEC filing. This table shows the legally allowable uses of Traditional PACs and Super PACs.

Action	Traditional PAC (“Separate Segregated Fund”)	Super PAC (“Independent Expenditure-Only Committee”) after 2010 Citizens United decision
Corporate Treasury Donations	Prohibited. Corporations cannot give money from their own profits.	Unlimited. Can give any amount from general treasury funds.
Union Treasury Donations	Prohibited. Unions cannot give money from general dues.	Unlimited. Can give any amount from general treasury funds.
Who Can Donate?	Individuals only (Employees/Members for SSFs).	Individuals, Corporations, and Unions.
Contribution Limits	Limited ($5,000 per individual, per year).	Unlimited.
Direct Candidate Support	Yes. Can give up to $5,000 directly to a candidate per election.	No. Direct donations and coordination are strictly prohibited.

After the 2010 SCOTUS Citizens United ruling, "Super PACs" have been used with shadow nonprofits to provide anonymous dark money contributions. We are opposed to all forms of dark money. That's why we support SB2471, as do both CD1 challenger candidates.

Read more:

→ AAnnouncement: IHSN endorses Jarrett Keohokalole
→ Learn about the 2026 Hawaiʻi State Primary
→ Join the 2026 Elections Team