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The Democratic Party’s establishment wing secured a significant victory Saturday when longtime U.S. Representative Ed Case, D-Hawaii, fended off a spirited primary challenge from Hawaii state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole. The outcome represents the party’s broader effort to resist gains made by progressive and socialist-backed candidates across the country in recent election cycles.
Case, who previously served in Congress from 2002 to 2007 before returning to the House in 2018, faced his most serious primary threat to date from Keohokalole, a state legislator since 2014. Both candidates mounted well-funded campaigns, though Case maintained a financial advantage throughout the race, according to available fundraising data.
Keohokalole’s campaign centered on attacking the incumbent for insufficient opposition to the Trump administration’s policies, particularly its federal immigration enforcement operations during the president’s second term. The challenger also highlighted Case’s April 2025 vote in favor of the initial version of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would have required federal voter identification and citizenship proof for voter registration.
Case defended his record to Hawaii News Now, asserting he would not blindly follow party directives and characterizing concerns about noncitizen voting as legitimate policy questions unrelated to voter suppression. Keohokalole countered that the measure represented a solution to a nonexistent problem, arguing no security vulnerabilities currently exist in the election system.
Case later aligned with nearly all House Democrats in opposing the subsequent SAVE America Act, which would have significantly expanded federal oversight of state voter registration rolls. He advances to November’s general election against Republican Adriel Lam in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District, a safe Democratic seat rated D+13 by the Cook Political Report.
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