Hawaii Republicans overwhelmingly choose Trump in party caucus

Mar. 13—Trump took 3, 506 votes, or 97 %, of the 3, 618 ballots cast by Republicans throughout the island Tuesday night, according to preliminary results

UPDATE : WEDNESDAY 11 :40 a.m.

Hawaii Republicans overwhelmingly chose former President Donald Trump to be the party's nominee in the 2024 election where he faces a rematch against President Joe Biden, according to preliminary results from the state GOP caucus.

Trump took 3, 506 votes, or 97 %, of the 3, 618 ballots cast by Republicans throughout the island Tuesday night, according to the results released late this morning by state GOP officials. The former president was the only active candidate in the race, but other former candidates who garnered votes included Nikki Haley, 58 ; Ron DeSantis, 23 ; and Vivek Ramaswamy, 18.

State party officials said final results will be released after they receive and tally all provisional ballots.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE Hawaii Republicans turned out Tuesday night to determine how many of the state's 19 GOP delegates will go to former President Donald Trump as he makes his third consecutive run for the White House.

Republican party officials were still counting ballots late Tuesday night but GOP state Chair Tamara McKay said that Trump held a large lead, or, as she characterized it : "Oh yeah, bigly, bigly. ... He's way in the lead."

Trump earlier Tuesday already secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination before the 6 p.m. opening of Hawaii's 35 caucus locations across the state, including 19 on Oahu, perhaps tempering Republican turnout.

Party officials said final results might not be known until Thursday, but the Associated Press called the race for Trump late Tuesday night.

Seven of the eight major Republican presidential candidates have suspended their campaigns but were still on the caucus ballots and eligible for some of Hawaii's Republican delegates.

The caucus also presented an opportunity for Republicans to discuss politics and policies outside of caucus locations—and provided them their first chance to show their GOP presidential preferences ahead of the Aug. 10 party primary elections and the Nov. 5 general election, where Trump and President Joe Biden are expected to square off for the second time in a row.

Three of Hawaii's Republican delegates already have been committed, leaving voters to show their preference for the other 16.

Reporters were barred from going inside caucus locations, and candidates such as Republican Adriel Lam, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, had to stay at least 50 feet outside.

One Republican volunteer entered the Kailua Intermediate School cafeteria caucus site early wearing a Trump ball cap and was told to remove it.

Several voters who turned out said they had never attended a Republican caucus, saying they distrust Hawaii's election results, which tend to favor Democrats in a state dominated by Democrats.

Some Republican voters declined to identify their preferred candidate for president.

But many others, such as Kim Cordery, 60, were openly enthusiastic for Trump when asked.

"Trump, Trump all the way, " she said. "Where do I start ? Our country is in bad shape : the border, crime rates, inflation, to name a few."

She's married to Gary Cordery, 64, who unsuccessfully ran for governor as a Republican in 2022 and added, "Lawlessness. Lawlessness is out of control."

He showed up to his second caucus in years "to support the process, " Cordery said. "Our government needs to ensure voting and not constrain voting."

Solomon Silva of Kailua, a retired city employee who will turn 59 next month, said he showed up for his first caucus because "I want my vote to be heard. Donald Trump—we share the same values. Our country is in a bad direction."

Including this year, Silva said he will have voted for Trump in three consecutive election cycles.

His brother, Jacob Silva, 58, also retired as a city employee, attended his first caucus at the urging of his brother "because of the times we're living in now, all the uncertainty. Ballots have been tampered with."

Alicia Sword, a 40-year-old Kailua business owner and mother of two sons, lives in Kaneohe and had never cast a vote before Tuesday night.

"I'm voting for Trump, " she said. "It's the first time I'm voting in my entire life."

Asked why, Sword said, "I have kids now, and you start to care about things."

She brought her old ­est son, Arvid Sword, a 14-­­­year-old freshman at Kalaheo High School, who said there are political debates on campus.

Sword said she wanted to expose Arvid to the democratic process in joining her at Kailua Intermediate School as she voted for the first time.

Arvid responded, "She voluntold me."

Andreas Helchinger, a 43-year-old Hawaiian Airlines pilot, also had never voted, but was in charge of the Kailua Intermediate caucus as a volunteer.

"I figured I need to be part of the process, " he said. "We need to have clean voter roles."

Rick Rickard, 67, of Kailua also had never shown up at a caucus, but reliably casts votes for Republicans.

Rickard and Ben Ray, 47, also of Kailua, separately said they share the same philosophy of a bumper sticker that Rickard drives around with :

"No vote, no grumble."

Some 161 Republican delegates in total were up for grabs Tuesday in Hawaii, Georgia, Mississippi and Washington, according to The Associated Press.

An estimated 10, 000 Republicans turned out for the 2012 Hawaii caucus, followed by 15, 000 in 2016. Because of COVID-19 the party suspended the 2020 caucus.------This print edition story has been updated to include the preliminary results of the vote, which were released Wednesday morning.------