Trevor Ozawa Returns to Honolulu City Council After Defeating Tara Malia Gregory
Eight years after losing his seat and watching his political momentum stall, Trevor Ozawa is heading back to Honolulu Hale. Civil Beat reported that with most votes counted following the November 3, 2026 election, Ozawa secured 60% of the vote in the East Honolulu District 4 race, comfortably defeating first-time candidate Tara Malia Gregory, who finished with 29%. More than 11% of voters left the race blank on their ballots.
The district spans over 100,000 residents living between Waikīkī and Hawaiʻi Kai. For Ozawa, the victory represents a striking political resurrection in a district he previously represented from 2015 to 2019. The Star-Advertiser noted that second-round election figures showed Ozawa’s share climbing closer to 67% compared to Gregory’s 33% as remaining mail-in ballots were tallied.
A Long Road Back Through the Courts
Council Chair Tommy Waters was pursuing a third consecutive term in office until he was disqualified by the Hawaii Supreme Court from seeking it under the Honolulu City Charter’s term limits. In June, Ozawa jumped into the contest and filed a lawsuit against Waters’ candidacy.
Former Honolulu City Council member Trevor Ozawa has won election back to his old seat representing East Honolulu’s District 4, defeating community advocate Tara Malia Gregory by a wide margin on Tuesday night. The second printout showed Ozawa securing a decisive victory with 18 pic.twitter.com/Eau35AkIVL
The legal challenge climbed all the way to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, resulting in a ruling that deemed Waters ineligible under the Honolulu City Charter’s term limits. By the time the court cleared the ballot, more than 8,000 voters had already cast ballots for Waters in the primary. With Waters disqualified, Gregory advanced out of the primary as the third-place vote-getter, setting up the general election showdown with Ozawa.
Focusing on Everyday Infrastructure and the Cost of Living
Ozawa leaned into practical, ground-level grievances, focusing his stump speeches on broken park facilities, janky park bathrooms, uneven sidewalks, and feral chickens running amok.
“We pay the highest cost of living in the country,” Ozawa said recently on ʻŌlelo Community Media, “and too often, what we get back from our government doesn’t match what we put in.”
Gregory ran on a stark message centered around a two-word motto: Audit everything. While she generated a strong online following and connected with voters door-to-door, her campaign was complicated by outside controversies. Kāhala voter Parker Kilkenny, a law student who Ozawa met while door-knocking, said she appreciated Ozawa’s campaign approach focusing on small-scale problems.
Tyler Dos Santos-Tam Wins Second Term on City Council
Urban Honolulu’s District 6 race followed a less contentious path. Incumbent Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam secured a second four-year term, handily beating first-time challenger Corey Morihara. Civil Beat reported Dos Santos-Tam captured 65% of the vote, while the Star-Advertiser’s subsequent tallies placed his final share near 74% against Morihara’s 26%.
Dos Santos-Tam campaigned on his legislative record from his first term, pointing to affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and constituent services as priorities. Morihara, a general contractor and city worker, focused his platform on infrastructure improvements and city spending accountability.
With Ozawa’s swearing-in scheduled for January 2, 2026, he will reenter a municipal legislative body experiencing significant internal friction. Council members are currently positioning themselves for an impending leadership change following Waters’ departure. Dos Santos-Tam submitted a resolution to install himself as council chair, though that maneuver faces scrutiny following a private meeting between himself and other members that triggered an investigation by the state Office of Information Practices regarding public meeting laws.
