Indivisible Hawaiʻi Statewide Network (IHSN) endorsed Jarrett Keohokalole for Hawaiʻi's Congressional District 1 on May 7, 2026. Getting there took six months of research, candidate evaluation, and member engagement. This post documents that process from start to finish — what we looked at, what we learned, and how we made our decision.
Why we decided to act
Replacing Ed Case has been a priority for IHSN since 2021. Time and again, he has broken with the Democratic Party on issues that matter most to Hawaiʻi residents — from working family programs to voting rights to ICE accountability. The full record is documented on this page, but the pattern is consistent: when it mattered, Case sided with donors and the MAGA agenda over the people he represents.
A leadership priority (July 2025)
Deciding to act was one thing; doing it responsibly required a clear plan.
Indivisible Hawaiʻi Statewide Network convened its leadership in July 2025. We set a strategic goal to assess voter sentiment about Ed Case and to find a better leader to represent Hawaiʻi in Congress.
Why were voters outside CD1 included in this process?
Although the August 8 primary takes place in Congressional District 1 (CD1), this race matters to all of Hawaiʻi. We have only two Congressional Representatives, meaning Ed Case's votes affect the whole state. When Rep. Tokuda votes in Hawaiʻi's interest and Case votes against it, his vote nullifies hers. That's why we opened this process to our full statewide membership, not just those living in CD1.
What Hawaiʻi voters told us (October-November 2025)
Before evaluating candidates, Indivisible leadership wanted to understand what Hawaiʻi voters actually thought.
We proceeded carefully. In October 2025, we joined in a poll that showed Ed Case's unpopularity.
In November 2025, we surveyed voters for detail about the leadership they want for Hawaiʻi. The answers we received were deep and revealing. Voters expressed appreciation for Jill Tokuda and strong disapproval of Ed Case. Find the survey responses on this page.
Two challengers declared they would challenge Ed Case in the Democratic Primary for Hawaiʻi CD1. In December 2025, we invited Ed Case and his challengers to hold public Talk Stories for our members. Ed Case declined. We proceeded to hold two public Talk Stories (watch them here) with State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole and Rep. Della Au Belatti.
Initial impressions of the candidates: Talk Story interviews
The Talk Stories gave IHSN members their first real look at both challengers — and raised a question that would shape the rest of the process.
466 members registered to watch the Talk Stories. The most common question they raised was along the lines of: We will only defeat Ed Case if there is a single challenger against him. How do we get there? We noted it, though we didn't raise it in the public events. Q&A from the Keohokalole and Belatti events is preserved for reference (see this page).
Our main finding: we had two highly qualified challengers.
Assessing the campaigns (January 2026)
Talk Stories alone weren't enough; we needed a closer, more structured look at each campaign.
In January 2026, we formed an IHSN Endorsement Panel. Invitations went to IHSN founding members, chapter leads from CD1, leaders who had attended the July 2025 statewide convening and strategic planning meeting, and the working group on the CD1 primary. Panel members agreed to review all candidates objectively and keep the process confidential.
At that point, half the panel voted "None yet" or "Not sure."
Watching the candidates in action (February 2026 vote)
Beyond interviews and surveys, IHSN tracked how both challengers actually performed as elected officials.
We observed them in the State Legislature, noting which bills they sponsored and how they conducted their committee hearings. We also reviewed their campaigns and drew on a Civil Beat article from February 3, 2026, which reported that Keohokalole had outperformed Case in FEC filings for the final quarter of 2025.
In February 2026, we reconvened the Endorsement Panel. By an 85% vote, the panel found that Keohokalole had the more viable campaign. It's worth noting that the vast majority of comments showed strong admiration for Representative Belatti. No one voted against her; they voted for the candidate they believed had the better chance of winning the Congressional seat.
Conditioning our support (February-April 2026)
A panel preference isn’t the same as an endorsement. Before committing, we set some firm conditions.
We needed to confirm that the candidate was committed to fighting to restore democracy and embraced IHSN's positions on the issues. We also needed to bring our full (statewide) membership into the process.
We presented both challenger candidates with a set of endorsement criteria. To be eligible for an endorsement from Indivisible Hawaiʻi, each candidate needed to demonstrate
- Effective opposition
- Strong ethics
- Campaign viability
- A commitment to running as a single challenger
- Alignment with IHSN's policy positions
Both challengers agreed — and understood those criteria would serve as their report card to evaluate their performance in office, if they were elected a member of Congress.
Asking our members (April 2026)
The final step before any endorsement decision was bringing the full IHSN membership into the process.
After the March 31 FEC filings became available, we held a virtual meeting (available both live and by recording) to share everything we had gathered with the statewide IHSN membership. At the end of the meeting, we asked members to vote. On the question Whom should Indivisible Hawaiʻi endorse in the CD1 Democratic Primary?, Hawaiʻi statewide Indivisibles voted for Keohokalole by 54% to 39% for Belatti, with 7% undecided.
A note on our candidate comparison
As part of the member meeting in April, IHSN presented a side-by-side comparison of both candidates' campaigns. Some felt the information presented was more favorable to Senator Keohokalole than to Representative Belatti.
The comparison reflected what the campaigns had provided to us and to the FEC. We reached out to both campaigns and included all relevant information they shared. The data showed a significant difference in fundraising, unique donors, endorsements, and organizational infrastructure — not because we weighted the comparison in anyone's favor, but because one campaign had built a more robust operation than the other. We presented the facts as we found them.
A question we want to address directly
During the vetting process, we looked carefully at a 2022 Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission investigation into Senator Keohokalole for the misfiling of campaign expenses.
When the investigation began, Senator Keohokalole did not wait to be found in violation. He voluntarily ordered an audit of his own campaign finance records, reimbursed the state approximately $1,200 in expenses, and paid a $1,500 penalty. The Ethics Commission considered the matter closed.
Indivisible Hawaiʻi takes campaign finance and ethics seriously — our endorsement criteria require candidates to demonstrate impeccable personal ethics, and to make a full public accounting of any prior missteps. Senator Keohokalole did exactly that. We reviewed this matter as part of our process and it did not change our assessment of his candidacy.
Endorsement
After the members voted, we returned to Indivisible Hawaiʻi leadership for a final confirmation. On May 6th, the leadership voted unanimously to endorse Jarrett Keohokalole. The announcement followed on May 7th.
After a six-month process, Indivisible Hawaiʻi Statewide Network enthusiastically supports Jarrett Keohokalole as our next Representative to the US Congress from Hawaiʻi Congressional District 1.
We wholeheartedly encourage our members to work actively on his campaign in the Democratic Primary.
→ Read the endorsement announcement
→ Learn about the 2026 Hawaiʻi State Primary
→ Join the 2026 Elections Team