For years, Hawaii has lagged behind every other state when it comes to voter participation. But that changed two years ago, when the state debuted voting by mail. That year, participation reached 51 percent, a 17-point jump from 2016. After this weekend, we’ll know whether the new system also boosts turnout in midterm primaries.
Voters in Hawaii have been filling out ballots for about two weeks, selecting nominees for the Senate, the House, governor and other state and local offices. The voting period ends Saturday, when mailed ballots are due and those who choose to vote in person head to voting centers.
As of Tuesday, about a quarter of the ballots sent to all registered voters had been completed and returned to election officials.
Term-limited Gov. David Ige’s exit has created a cascade of openings. Lt. Gov. Josh Green is the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, creating an opening for his current post. Running a distant second is Rep. Kai Kahele, who is also vacating her seat in a bid for the top job in the state. Ten Republicans are battling for their party’s nomination.
Sen. Brian Schatz is expected to cruise to victory in the Democratic primary and then easily win reelection in November.
Republicans rarely win high-level elections in Hawaii. Only two Republicans have served as governor and two as lieutenant governor (the most recently in 2010). The state hasn’t had a Republican senator since 1977, and Charles Djou was the only Republican to represent Hawaii in the House, serving one term in 2010-11.
Hawaii conducts an open primary, meaning registered voters can cast a ballot for candidates in the party of their choice.
The biggest change to Hawaii’s election laws in recent years was, of course, the switch to a proactive vote-by-mail system prior to the 2020 election.
Last year, lawmakers made an additional change, requiring each county to open at least one voting center during a 10-day early voting period. Country clerks are also required to publicize such details as hours and locations for voter centers and ballot drop boxes.
In 2021, lawmakers also voted to combine online and same-day voter registration systems to make it easier for people to vote, and people were given more time to register to vote.
The only election-related law enacted in 2022 requires ballot packaging to include instructions for voters who need assistance in other languages.
Read more about election law changes in Hawaii.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.