Message to Supporters, July 17, 2016

Thanks to you and all of your hard work and support over the last five weeks, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported today that we have an amazing 9-point lead over the incumbent mayor.  This is a stinging indictment of the current administration and validation of the strength of our campaign.

And, this poll was completed BEFORE any of our TV commercials started airing.  (You can watch our new commercial here.)  This poll is a reflection of our campaign having spent just a few thousand dollars with only a month of campaigning.  Yet, with just that initial effort, we have already opened a nearly double-digit lead over the incumbent.

Just as amazing, on Friday, the news reported that the mayor spent $1.5 million on his campaign.  As the incumbent, having spent $1.5 million, to have a meager 30% of the vote shows the clear disappointment of the community with the current leadership.

Ballots will be mailed in 5 days.  This election can be won with 50% + 1 vote.  If you believe as we do that it is now or never  --- that if we give this current mayor another 4 years, the damage to our community will be irreparable -- please join us NOW.  If you can give a few hours of your time this week before absentee ballots are mailed, please come out and phone bank, sign wave, go door-to-door, or most importantly please call your family and friends and make sure they VOTE. 

We can win this race for mayor on August 13th.  But we can do it  ONLY with your help.  We are so close.  Because we are ahead, we know the attacks will start coming, so if you can, please consider making a generous contribution to our campaign of $50, $100, $250 or any amount up to the maximum $4,000 to ensure that we pull off a historic upset victory.

Aloha,

Charles Djou

P.S. It is a sign of how well things are going for us, that the mayor's campaign has actually begun arguing that the Caldwell idea to stop everything at Middle Street is actually our proposal!  This is bizarre, but part of the dirty tricks we can expect from Caldwell who will "play hardball."  The truth is Caldwell went to HART and personally testified in favor of ending the rail project at Middle Street.  Then sometime in the future, maybe decades, the mayor wants to go on to Ala Moana with no idea on where funding is coming from and Caldwell refuses to submit any plan on how to get there.  I support any reasonable alternative to get us not just to Ala Moana, but on to Waikiki and UH, using the resources we have.  This includes looking at putting the mass transit system on the ground after Middle Street.  The only thing I will not consider is more endless cost overruns that will bankrupt the City. 

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Caldwell’s mayoral chances dissipating, blowing in wind

Borreca Star-Adv July 17, 2016: …30 percent of the likely voters say they would vote for Caldwell, while 39 percent prefer Djou; but on the other hand, 53 percent say they approve of Caldwell’s job performance, including 60 percent of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

But Caldwell is winning just 34 percent of the AJA vote. January’s poll had Caldwell winning 44 percent of the AJA vote. He also had 49 percent of the Caucasian vote and the latest poll shows Caldwell with just 26 percent. So there is much slippage.

Rail appears to be an important part of Caldwell’s drop in support. In this month’s poll, just 31 percent of likely voters say Caldwell would do the best job “addressing issues related to rail.”

But, 43 percent of the voters say Djou would do the best job.

In all questions asked regarding the election and rail, former Mayor Peter Carlisle came in third.

Four years ago Caldwell was the construction industry’s guy. The construction industry and unions slammed Caldwell’s opponent, former Gov. Ben Cayetano, with such misleading slanderous ads and commercials that Cayetano was able to force an apology from the Pacific Resource Partnership political action group.

Today, Djou, with his moderate message of build rail but control costs, appears to be winning both union support and voters.

read … Caldwell’s mayoral chances dissipating, blowing in wind