Kim Coco Iwamoto

Kim Coco Iwamoto (Democratic Party) is a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, representing District 25. She assumed office on November 5, 2024. Her current term ends on November 3, 2026.

Iwamoto (Democratic Party) won election to the Hawaii House of Representatives to represent District 25 outright in the Democratic primary on August 10, 2024, after the general election was canceled.

Iwamoto completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kim Coco Iwamoto was born in Lihue, Hawaii. She earned an associate degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1988, a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University in 1990, and a law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2000. Her career experience includes working as a small business owner.^[1]

Elections

2024

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Kim Coco Iwamoto won election outright against incumbent Scott Saiki in the Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25 on August 10, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kim Coco Iwamoto	52.5	2,668
	Scott Saiki	47.5	2,412

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,080
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Shaun Carey

No Labels Party primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Thomas Brandt (No Labels Party)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Iwamoto in this election.

Pledges

Iwamoto signed the following pledges.

U.S. Term Limits

2022

General election

General election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Incumbent Scott Saiki defeated Rob Novak in the general election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott Saiki (D)	73.4	5,473
	Submit photo	Rob Novak (R)	26.6	1,986

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,459
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Incumbent Scott Saiki defeated Kim Coco Iwamoto in the Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25 on August 13, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Scott Saiki	51.5	2,680
	Kim Coco Iwamoto	48.5	2,519

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,199
= 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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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Rob Novak advanced from the Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25 on August 13, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Rob Novak	100.0	745

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 745
= 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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2020

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 26

Incumbent Scott Saiki won election outright against Kim Coco Iwamoto in the Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 26 on August 8, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Scott Saiki	51.3	3,393
	Kim Coco Iwamoto	48.7	3,226

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,619
= 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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2018

See also: Hawaii gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018

General election

General election for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Joshua Green defeated Marissa Kerns, Renee Ing, and Paul Robotti in the general election for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joshua Green (D)	62.7	244,934
		Marissa Kerns (R)	33.7	131,719
	Submit photo	Renee Ing (G)	2.6	10,123
		Paul Robotti (Nonpartisan)	1.0	4,067

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 390,843
= 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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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Joshua Green defeated Jill Tokuda, Bernard Carvalho, Kim Coco Iwamoto, and William Espero in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joshua Green	31.4	74,845
		Jill Tokuda	28.6	68,124
	Submit photo	Bernard Carvalho	19.2	45,825
		Kim Coco Iwamoto	14.4	34,243
		William Espero	6.5	15,463

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 238,500
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Marissa Kerns defeated Steve Lipscomb and Jeremy Low in the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Marissa Kerns	35.4	9,758
	Submit photo	Steve Lipscomb	34.7	9,543
	Submit photo	Jeremy Low	29.9	8,232

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,533
= 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.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Paul Robotti defeated Ernest Magaoay in the primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Paul Robotti	50.6	536
	Submit photo	Ernest Magaoay	49.4	523

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,059
= 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.

Green primary election

Green primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Renee Ing advanced from the Green primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii on August 11, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Renee Ing	100.0	444

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 444
= 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.

2016

See also: Hawaii State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Hawaii State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 13, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 7, 2016. Incumbent Suzanne Chun Oakland (D) did not seek re-election.

Karl Rhoads defeated Rod Tam and Harry Ozols in the Hawaii State Senate District 13 general election.^[2]

Hawaii State Senate, District 13 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Karl Rhoads	70.99%	10,815
	Republican	Rod Tam	25.11%	3,826
	Libertarian	Harry Ozols	3.89%	593
Total Votes				15,234
Source: State of Hawaii - Office of Elections

Karl Rhoads defeated Kim Coco Iwamoto and Keone Nakoa in the Hawaii State Senate District 13 Democratic primary.^[3]^[4]

Hawaii State Senate, District 13 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Karl Rhoads	45.07%	3,606
	Democratic	Kim Coco Iwamoto	31.62%	2,530
	Democratic	Keone Nakoa	23.31%	1,865
Total Votes				8,001

Rod Tam ran unopposed in the Hawaii State Senate District 13 Republican primary.^[3]^[4]

Hawaii State Senate, District 13 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Rod Tam (unopposed)

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Kim Coco Iwamoto completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Iwamoto's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have served my community through various roles: Managing Attorney of Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii, licensed therapeutic foster parent (of McKinley High School student), State Board of Education Member, Hawaii Civil Rights Commissioner, Chamber of Sustainable Commerce Co-Founder, and currently serves as the Ala Moana–Kakaako Neighborhood Board Treasurer.

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?

I support sufficient shelters & social workers to address our homelessness crisis.
I support housing security: Truly affordable housing: prevent families and elderly from slipping into homelessness and Stronger consumer protections for condominium owners
I support safe streets, smart traffic lights & clear signage.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Collect “empty-homes” surcharge on vacant investment properties

Fair-Share tax rates for all – close tax loopholes that only benefit the wealthiest residents

Stop corruption that funnels public monies into private hands.

Collect taxes on responsible adult-use marijuana

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Starting in the 5th grade, I delivered the Honolulu Star Bulletin after school on my bicycle.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Hawaii Children's Action Network, District Council 50

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

On May 28, 2022, the Democratic Party of Hawaii adopted a resolution I drafted, “Resolution 2022-40.a, Urging Hawaii Lawmakers to Address Corruption at the Legislature,” which states in relevant part:

“to take the following immediate actions: adopt House and Senate rules that 1) restrict state legislators or their representatives from soliciting or accepting campaign contributions during the legislative session, 2) require legislators to comply with all State Sunshine and Ethics laws while working to amend the relevant statutes and codify this compliance, 3) adopt House and Senate Rules that restrict legislators from holding any leadership position if they were, within the preceding six months, a) hired as private-practice attorneys, or b) were profit-sharing law practice partners bound by attorney-client privilege from disclosing clients’ names or businesses, 4) grant any bill sponsored by a majority of the members in the originating chamber at least one committee hearing, and, 5) prevent a bill from being deferred indefinitely without a recorded vote by committee members."

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.

2022

Kim Coco Iwamoto did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Kim Coco Iwamoto did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Iwamoto's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“

SUPPORTING FAMILIES

Make the lives of hard-working families better: keiki to kupuna

Cut taxes on food, medication and medical supplies
Support family caregivers with resources
Protect State employee retirements
Protect land and ocean for next generations

ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS

Let’s keep people who have homes housed, and get housing for those without

Find housing First and provide services second
Provide incentives to house homeless
Increase hotel tax (TAT tax) to fund housing

FULLY-FUNDING EDUCATION

All children deserve access to a bright future

Restore funding for early chidhood education
Keep kids safe by repairing and maintaining our schools
Pay teachers a competitive wage to address the teacher shortage^[5]

”

—Kim Coco Iwamoto (2016)^[6]

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Kim Coco Iwamoto campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Hawaii House of Representatives District 25	Won primary	$118,950	$149,532
2022	Hawaii House of Representatives District 25	Lost primary	$82,089	$152,507
2020	Hawaii House of Representatives District 26	Lost primary	$73,504	N/A**
Grand total			$274,543	$302,038
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Hawaii

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Hawaii scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Officeholder

Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Website

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Kim Coco Iwamoto, "Meet Kim Coco," accessed September 3, 2024
↑ State of Hawaii, "General Election 2016 - State of Hawaii – Statewide November 8, 2016," accessed November 23, 2016
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 State of Hawaii, "2016 Candidate Report," accessed June 10, 2016
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Hawaii.gov, "Primary Election results," accessed September 12, 2016
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Kim Coco, "Issues," accessed July 13, 2016

Political offices
Preceded by Scott Saiki (D)	Hawaii House of Representatives District 25 2024-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Current members of the Hawaii House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Nadine Nakamura

Majority Leader:Sean Quinlan

Minority Leader:Lauren Matsumoto

Representatives

District 1

Matthias Kusch (D)

District 2

Susan Lee Loy (D)

District 3

Chris Todd (D)

District 4

Greggor Ilagan (D)

District 5

Jeanne Kapela (D)

District 6

Kirstin Kahaloa (D)

District 7

Nicole Lowen (D)

District 8

David Tarnas (D)

District 9

Justin Woodson (D)

District 10

Tyson Miyake (D)

District 11

Terez Amato (D)

District 12

Kyle Yamashita (D)

District 13

Mahina Poepoe (D)

District 14

Elle Cochran (D)

District 15

Nadine Nakamura (D)

District 16

Luke Evslin (D)

District 17

Dee Morikawa (D)

District 18

Joe Gedeon (R)

District 19

Mark Hashem (D)

District 20

Tina Nakada Grandinetti (D)

District 21

Jackson Sayama (D)

District 22

Andrew Takuya Garrett (D)

District 23

Ikaika Olds (D)

District 24

Adrian Tam (D)

District 25

Kim Iwamoto (D)

District 26

Della Belatti (D)

District 27

Jenna Takenouchi (D)

District 28

Daniel Holt (D)

District 29

Ikaika Hussey (D)

District 30

Shirley Templo (D)

District 31

Linda Ichiyama (D)

District 32

Garner Shimizu (R)

District 33

Sam Kong (D)

District 34

Gregg Takayama (D)

District 35

Cory Chun (D)

District 36

Rachele Lamosao (D)

District 37

Trish La Chica (D)

District 38

Lauren Matsumoto (R)

District 39

Elijah Pierick (R)

District 40

Julie Reyes Oda (R)

District 41

David Alcos (R)

District 42

Diamond Garcia (R)

District 43

Kanani Souza (R)

District 44

Darius Kila (D)

District 45

Chris Muraoka (R)

District 46

Amy Perruso (D)

District 47

Sean Quinlan (D)

District 48

Lisa Kitagawa (D)

District 49

Scot Matayoshi (D)

District 50

Michael Lee (D)

District 51

Lisa Marten (D)

Democratic Party (42)

Republican Party (9)

[bio-1] Kim Coco Iwamoto, "Meet Kim Coco," accessed September 3, 2024

[gresults16-2] State of Hawaii, "General Election 2016 - State of Hawaii – Statewide November 8, 2016," accessed November 23, 2016

[plist16-3] 3.0 ^3.1 State of Hawaii, "2016 Candidate Report," accessed June 10, 2016

[presults16-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Hawaii.gov, "Primary Election results," accessed September 12, 2016

[quotedisclaimer-5] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[6] Kim Coco, "Issues," accessed July 13, 2016

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Kim Coco Iwamoto

Biography

Elections

2024

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Nonpartisan primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

No Labels Party primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Pledges

2022

General election

General election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 25

2020

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 26

2018

General election

General election for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

Green primary election

Green primary for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii

2016

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

2022

2020

2016

Campaign finance summary

Scorecards

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

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