Hope Louise Cermelj

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Hope Louise Cermelj

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Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 10, 2024

Contact

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Hope Louise Cermelj (also known as Hope Alohalani) ran for election to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to represent Hawaii Island Resident Trustee. She lost in the primary on August 10, 2024.

Elections

2024

See also: Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees election, 2024

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee

Kaiali'i Kahele won election outright against Z. Ka'apana Aki, Hope Louise Cermelj, and Hulali Waltjen-Kuilipule in the primary for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee on August 10, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kaiali'i Kahele (Nonpartisan)	56.7	80,186
		Z. Ka'apana Aki (Nonpartisan)	24.3	34,325
		Hope Louise Cermelj (Nonpartisan)	11.1	15,688
		Hulali Waltjen-Kuilipule (Nonpartisan)	7.9	11,160

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 141,359
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Susan Lee Loy (Nonpartisan)
• Mililani Trask (Nonpartisan)
• D. Iolani Kamauu (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Cermelj in this election.

2022

See also: Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees election, 2022

General election

Special general election for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee

Incumbent Mililani Trask defeated Hope Louise Cermelj in the special general election for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mililani Trask (Nonpartisan)	62.1	176,648
		Hope Louise Cermelj (Nonpartisan)	37.9	107,669

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 284,317
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Mililani Trask and Hope Louise Cermelj advanced from the special primary for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee.

2020

See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4

Greggor Ilagan defeated Hope Louise Cermelj and Desmon Haumea in the general election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Greggor Ilagan (D)	70.1	7,801
		Hope Louise Cermelj (R)	17.5	1,943
		Desmon Haumea (Aloha Aina Party)	12.4	1,384

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,128
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4

Greggor Ilagan defeated Eileen Ohara in the Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4 on August 8, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Greggor Ilagan	61.7	3,683
		Eileen Ohara	38.3	2,284

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,967
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joy San Buenaventura (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4

Hope Louise Cermelj advanced from the Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4 on August 8, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Hope Louise Cermelj	100.0	459

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 459
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Aloha Aina Party primary election

Aloha Aina Party primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4

Desmon Haumea advanced from the Aloha Aina Party primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4 on August 8, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Desmon Haumea	100.0	191

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 191
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Brian Ley ran in the nonpartisan primary and received 92 votes. To advance to the general election, Hawaii election law requires nonpartisan candidates in partisan races to receive at least 10% of the votes cast for the office or to receive a vote total equal to or greater than the lowest vote total of a winning partisan candidate. Ley did not meet that threshold.

2012

See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2012

Cermelj ran in the 2012 election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 4. Cermelj ran as an Independent candidate and was defeated by incumbent Faye Hanohano (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Hope Louise Cermelj did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Interview with Honolulu Civil Beat

Cermelj highlighted the following themes in an interview with Honolulu Civil Beat on July 16, 2024. The questions from Honolulu Civil Beat are bolded and Cermelj's responses follow below.

“

1. What do you see as the most pressing problem facing Native Hawaiians, and what will you do about it? Receiving and applying for college, university, trade school funding from OHA as stated in OHA policy. Help all Hawaii island students with funding for higher education 2. Should OHA be subject to oversight by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission? Absolutely. Even though the Ethics Commission has its respective issues. too. Transparency, accountability, compassion for Kanaka is imperative. 3. Do you support the construction of the TMT atop Mauna Kea? Why or why not? Could the new management structure help to resolve long-standing disputes? Never. Sacred ground has been violated for decades. We will go up again to protect sacred lake, plants, aina, chanting sites. 4. What role should the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands play in reducing homelessness? DHHL’s kuleana is to prepare the waiting lists as soon as possible. Kanaka have died on the waiting list. How long have they waited? Enough already. The director should be replaced as soon as possible as well. No action, no job. 5. Why do you think Hawaiians are disproportionately represented in our prisons and jails? What can be done about it? Kanaka are still being held in jail illegally, unlawfully. Release them. OHA can financially help each inmate upon release. Again, the kuleana of OHA is the betterment of conditions for all Native Hawaiians. 6. What are your views regarding Hawaiian self-determination? Like Uncle Robert Sr. said, “the Kingdom of Hawaii still exists. We never left.” Stand our ground. 7. Is OHA getting its fair share of ceded-land revenues from the state? No, as per their funding statement, revenue from Kanaka land, and 3.8% of Public Land Trust (although by law, it should be 20%), is not going to OHA general fund account. 8. Is OHA fulfilling its mandate to serve the Hawaiian people? No. Keiki should be granted “full boat“ money for schools of their respective choice. Letters could be generated by all trustees on all islands to DHHL to give them their land to live, thrive, plant, work. Not on lease, but to own respectively. 9. Is Hawaii managing its tourism industry properly? What should be handled differently? All tour companies, especially out-of-state tourism companies, can pay their fair share to OHA via a tariff or tourism tax, since the islands are thriving again in tourism. 10. How would you make OHA more transparent and accessible to the public and the Hawaiian people? Besides their wonderful magazine monthly, each trustee can do outreach, talk story, get involved in the forever waiting list of DHHL. In aloha we trust. If you don’t vote, you cannot grumble.

”

2022

Hope Louise Cermelj did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Hope Louise Cermelj did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Hope Louise Cermelj campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee	Lost primary	$0	$54
2022	Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii Island Resident Trustee	Lost general	$1,939	$1,604
2020	Hawaii House of Representatives District 4	Lost general	$3,058	N/A**
Grand total			$4,997	$1,657
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

2024 Elections

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