Hawaii's carpenters union poured more than $14.8 million into this year's elections through its super PAC and a sister political committee, making it by far the biggest spender in state politics even as several of its favored candidates lost.
The figure comes from a review by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which found the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters' super PAC and its affiliated committee, For A Better Tomorrow, spent $11.9 million combined between the August 8 primary and the November 3 general election alone. Kristin Izumi-Nitao, executive director of the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, said the carpenters' PAC and super PAC were by far the biggest spenders in Hawaii elections, even as her staff continues tabulating overall PAC and super PAC spending across both the primary and general elections.
Big Money, Mixed Returns on Maui and Kauai
Not every dollar bought a win. For A Better Tomorrow spent $2 million backing Maui County Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura's bid for mayor, a race in which she gave up her Upcountry residency seat to run. Maui voters cast 27,567 votes for incumbent Mayor Richard Bissen against 21,409 for Sugimura, even though the PAC spent only $11,564 opposing Bissen directly.
The union also backed the losing side in Kauai's mayoral race, spending $40,392 supporting Bernard Carvalho, who lost to Mel Rapozo. In a Maui County Council contest, the carpenters' PAC gave incumbent Tom Cook $44,520 for his reelection bid. Cook lost anyway.
The Carpenters' Biggest Win: A Bond Measure
Where the union's money landed most decisively was not a candidate race at all. Rise Together Hawaii spent $2.9 million supporting the Rise Bonds constitutional amendment, which Hawaii voters approved. Governor Josh Green and Lieutenant Governor-elect Derek Kawakami both supported the amendment.
Green went on to win the general election by 45.3 percentage points, the largest margin in a Hawaii gubernatorial general election since statehood. The PAC was far more active in Kawakami's race, donating over $108,000 to his campaign overall, including nearly $59,000 during his primary contest against Della Au Belatti, who had campaigned on opposition to corporate and PAC money in Hawaii politics.
A Union With a Controversial History
The Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters is associated with For A Better Tomorrow, a separate political committee, not a rebrand of Pacific Resource Partnership, the group that spent $3.6 million during the 2012 election cycle almost entirely trying to derail former Governor Ben Cayetano's bid for Honolulu mayor, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.
Cayetano also filed a defamation lawsuit against Pacific Resource Partnership, and the group's 2012 campaign spending came under investigation.
PAC Spending
For A Better Tomorrow alone accounted for $5.2 million of all noncandidate committee spending tracked through the primary, nearly half the total at that point in the cycle, and had more than $12 million available at the end of 2025, according to Hawaii News Now. The state's full accounting of 2026 PAC and super PAC spending across both elections remains a work in progress at the Campaign Spending Commission.
