Jacquie Esser

Ess

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Jacquie Esser

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 8, 2020

Education

Law

University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Jacquie Esser ran for election for Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney in Hawaii. She lost in the primary on August 8, 2020.

Esser completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Esser earned a J.D. from the University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law.

Elections

2020

See also: City elections in Honolulu, Hawaii (2020)

General election

General election for Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney

Steven Alm defeated Megan Kau in the general election for Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Steven Alm (Nonpartisan)	55.5	199,399
	Submit photo	Megan Kau (Nonpartisan)	44.5	159,745

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 359,144
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney

The following candidates ran in the primary for Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney on August 8, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Steven Alm (Nonpartisan)	40.1	96,459
✔	Submit photo	Megan Kau (Nonpartisan)	24.3	58,389
		Jacquie Esser (Nonpartisan)	19.6	47,043
	Submit photo	Dwight Nadamoto (Nonpartisan)	6.6	15,799
	Submit photo	Robert Brown (Nonpartisan)	5.2	12,505
	Submit photo	Tae Kim (Nonpartisan)	3.7	8,812
	Submit photo	Anosh Yaqoob (Nonpartisan)	0.7	1,610

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 240,617
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Esser's endorsements in the 2020 elections, please click here.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jacquie Esser completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Esser's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a Public Defender running to transform our system. As a public defender, I have worked in every division of the office - appellate advocacy, juvenile advocacy, civil commitment advocacy, treatment courts, and misdemeanor and felony jury trials. I have represented over 1,000 clients and handled the most serious criminal charges from robbery, sexual assaults, and murder. As Honolulu Prosecutor Candidate, I will fight for equal justice for all. I am the only candidate who has spent their career fighting to get treatment for our mentally ill and those with substance abuse disorders. I am the only candidate for Honolulu Prosecutor who has spent their career fighting to end the injustice of our cash bail system. Our criminal justice system in Honolulu needs to be reformed because it is wasting money, it is wasting lives, it has broken the trust of our community and I am committed to changing that. Let's bring change and new ideas to the Honolulu prosecutor's office. I am Jacquie Esser, Honolulu Prosecutor Candidate, and I humbly ask for your support in this year's incredibly important race for our new prosecuting attorney.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Stop using our jails as the only solution to solve our problems. We must stop treating poverty, homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness as crimes and recognize them for what they are: complex social, economic and public health issues that require long-term solutions.
• Promote transparency and demand accountability. The public has the right to hold the Prosecutors Office accountable.
• We must address systemic racism in the criminal justice system. We must implement unconscious bias training and expand culturally relevant in-prison and reentry programs

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

There can be no justice when we utilize jails and prisons as our only solutions to our problems. The next Prosecutor for Honolulu, must realign our priorities to focus on serious crimes while at the same time providing treatment to people whose crimes stem from homelessness, mental illness, and addiction.

- Promote Transparency & Demand Accountability: The Honolulu Prosecutor's role is to serve the people of Oʻahu. Therefore, the public has the right to hold the Prosecutor's Office accountable.

- End Cash Bail: There is no proven tie between money and public safety. Cash bail allows dangerous people to buy their way out of jail, while poor nonviolent people languish in jail.

- End the Overrepresentation of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System: Native Hawaiians make up 18% of the adult population, but nearly 40% of the prison population, and they are overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice system.

- Increase Mental Health Treatment: We must stop using our jail as an ineffective and inhumane mental health facility. We must ensure that those who suffer from mental illness or substance abuse disorders receive the treatment they deserve so that our island becomes a more safe and humane place.

- Demand Equal Enforcement of the Law: No one is above the law. No one! Jacquie will work to ensure people in power who break the law are held accountable. It's time to restore trust and integrity to the Office of the Honolulu Prosecutor.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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