DJOU: STATEMENT ON THE MASS. U.S. SENATE ELECTION

Charles K. Djou, Republican candidate for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District, applauded the election of Republican Scott Brown in a special election to fill the seat vacated by the late Sen. Ten Kennedy in Massachusetts.

“Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s come-from-behind victory, in a solid Democrat state like Massachusetts, clearly shows the American people want different leadership in Congress.  Like Sen.-elect Brown, I am troubled by Congress’ multi-trillion dollar budget deficit that recklessly mortgages our children’s future, a multi-billion dollar stimulus package that has done little to alter unemployment and a health care plan that is too expensive and won’t work,” stated Djou. 

"From those I've spoken to at the 4,000 doors that I've knocked on in the last two weeks, and from the 1,100 donors to my campaign, it is clear that Hawaii’s voters feel just as frustrated.  Hawaii needs a voice from outside the system to fundamentally change the status quo.”

Djou currently serves as a member of the Honolulu City Council and previously was the Republican Floor Leader in the Hawaii State House.  Like Sen.-elect Brown, Djou serves as an Army JAG officer in the reserves.  A special election to fill the seat being vacated by the resignation of Congressman Neil Abercrombie will likely take place on May 1st.

At the start of the campaign last fall, Brown trailed Democrat nominee Martha Coakley by 30 points in the first poll of this race.  As recently as eight weeks ago, a similar poll had Brown trailing Coakley by 31 points.  Brown never closed to even within the margin of error of Coakley in any media poll until just two weeks ago.  Today, Brown defeated Coakley by 5 percentage points.

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Ka`auwai: TODAY MASSACHUSETTS, TOMORROW HAWAII

HONOLULU—Hawai'i Republican Party Chairman Jonah Ka'auwai released the following statement today on Scott Brown’s victorious campaign for the Massachusetts’ U.S. Senate seat:

“For an entire year, Americans across the country have been telling President Obama and Congressional Democrats to hit the brakes on their binge spending and government-run experiments and focus on the economy—but they simply didn’t get the message. 

“Scott Brown campaigned against the health care reform bill that Democrats in Congress are working frantically to pass.  He can credit part of his victory to his oath to vote against the this ill-conceived bill, which our own Governor Linda Lingle has described as ‘hurried, fiscally unsustainable and seriously flawed political boondoggle.’  Now Democrats are paying the price in the polls and at the polls.

“Democrats in Massachusetts believed in their own inevitability and failed to work for voters’ supports.  Democrats here in Hawaii run the same risk, especially as Republican candidates like Charles Djou and Duke Aiona are out there pounding the pavement, listening to constituents and building a campaign on the values and issues that matter most to Hawaii.

“In May, Hawaii voters will be the next to show the Democrats in Congress that there misguided policies must stop and that a fundamental change to the status quo is needed.”

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