INSIGHTS features the race for three seats up for grabs in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees Races.

• In the Molokaʻi contest, current Board Chair Colette Machado is facing challenger Luana Alapa, who edged out the veteran for the victory in the Primary Election. Since neither candidate drew more than 50 percent of the vote, both moved on to the General Election. Machado, a native of Molokaʻi and UH Mānoa graduate, was an activist in the movement to stop the military bombings of Kahoʻolawe. Political newcomer Alapa, also a graduate of UH Mānoa, is a former Miss Hawaii and entrepreneur who has opened her own modeling school and partnered with her sisters to open a clothing store and production company.
• The race for the at-large seat features incumbent Keliʻi Akina against Keoni Souza. Akina holds advanced degrees from UH Mānoa and Northwestern University. He’s President and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a public policy think tank. Souza has worked as a flight attendant, stevedore and Realtor, and is a musician with the Grammy-nominated Hawaiian music group Nā Hoa.
• Keola Lindsey and Lanakila Mangauil are running for a Hawaiʻi Island seat. Lindsey, a nephew of outgoing incumbent Robert Lindsey Jr. and a Waimea, Hawaiʻi native, holds a master’s degree in public administration from UH Mānoa. He is currently OHA’s Advocacy Director. Mangauil is a former public school teacher who founded the Hawaiian Cultural Center of Hāmākua, where he is the Executive Director and lead instructor. Mangauill has been a vocal critic of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea. Lindsey says he’s neutral on TMT.

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