HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi needed 50% of votes plus one and he far exceeded that with 79% in the first printout. That means the race does not need to go to the general election.
When interviewed earlier on Saturday, Mayor Blangiardi was full of energy and joy, riding around town on a trolley and greeting some of his sign wavers.
He said he inherited a time with a lot of pain and tragedy and moving forward, he wants to give people hope.
So tonight is one of those moments where hopefully the public sees that they respond accordingly at the polls. We'll find out later tonight. But we're really looking really good. Well, you know, we'd like to win in the primary. I'm not going to be coy about that. We've said that all along. And if we can do that, it will allow us to get on with business and not have to deal with the campaign for the next several months.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi
Mayor Blangiardi arrived in Downtown Honolulu between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to see if his three opponents Duke Burgoin, Karl Dicks and Choon James could force a general election.
The first printout results came in just after 7:20 p.m. where Blangiardi showed out with 72% or 115,017 votes.
"It's a challenge, a responsibility and a privilege of a lifetime rolled into one. So when you get to a moment like this, an overwhelming vote of confidence by the public who perceived the work we have done is good, not only is it validating, it's inspiring, so I'm pumped. This team is pumped. We were hoping this would be the case and it turned out that way," explained Blangiardi.
The second printout is expected to come in around 10:30 p.m.