Opinion: Meet the newest House member, Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) -- GOP takes Obama’s home district
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Yes, of course, The Ticket Twittered it. And if you followed us (see bottom of this item to do so), you would already know.
But in case you were otherwise occupied early Sunday morning mainland time, voters in Hawaii’s First Congressional District opted for a Republican member of the House in a special election Saturday.
He’s Charles Djou (de-jew), a Honolulu city councilman.
He’s now enroute to Washington to claim the district’s seat for the GOP for the first time in 10 terms. He’ll have to run again in November, and next time feuding Democrats may not split their votes. On the other hand, the same district’s voters opted for Republicans George W. Bush by 47% in 2004 and Gov. Linda Lingle in 2006 with 65% of their ballots.
But Djou tells the Fox News Channel he’s already making plans (See video below).
“Back in January when this seat became an open seat for a special election,’ Djou said, ‘I was polling in the teens. Everybody told me that this congressional seat was purchased and the wholly owned property of the Democratic Party.’
But for now, as a Republican, he’s enjoying the first flipped special election in nine years and the first GOP special election win this cycle.
How’d he do it?
“I think the American people are clearly frustrated that the government is spending too much of our money. I will never ever forget that every single dollar the government spends comes from a family like yours.â€
Meanwhile at the White House, Democrat Barack Obama was holding a reception to celebrate the contributions of Asian Americans to the country’s society. Rep.-elect Djou won’t make this one in time.
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-- Andrew Malcolm
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