WASHINGTON — First-term Rep. Kai Kahele will run for governor of Hawaii instead of seeking reelection, according to a report by Punchbowl News.
Kahele’s office did not respond to a request for comment, and he did not mention the switch in a video he posted to Twitter on Thursday in which he spoke from the Capitol Rotunda about voting for a bill giving the Biden administration authority to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine.
The news comes weeks after reports that Kahele had voted in person only five times this year, using the proxy voting system that House leaders enacted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was spotted by reporters on Capitol Hill this week as the House returned from a two-week recess.
