For the winner, it's just the beginning. Work will start soon in Washington, and he'll have to run for the seat again in November.
It's been 19 years since a Republican held a Hawaii congressional seat. The last one to do so spoke at winner Charles Djou's victory party Saturday night.
"I remember many, many years ago when I won this seat, now it belongs to Charles," said Pat Saiki, a former U.S. Congresswoman.
It's a win that won't go unnoticed from the president's home state with a traditionally solidly Democratic base.
"We have sent a message to the United States Congress, we have sent a message to the ex-governors, we have sent a message to the national Democrats, we have sent a message to the machine," said Djou.
Democrats say the win isn't a message. With second- and third-place Democratic competitors garnering a combined vote much bigger than Djou's count, they say Djou's win is a fluke of a winner-take-all special race that won't have the same dynamics in November after a primary puts just one strong Democrat on the ticket. Republicans disagree.
"Charles won by 10 points, I mean that's a large victory, and we didn't think that if we were to win that we'd come out that far, so we're excited about that so I think it just shows the momentum is in Charles' favor and the momentum going into November," said Jonah Kaauwai with the Hawaii Republican Committee.
Republicans also doubt that those who voted for the second and third place candidates this time around will vote the same way in the fall.
"A lot of the Ed Case supporters are people who would vote for Charles, there are also a lot of people who didn't even vote in the special election who you would work to get out in the general election," said Governor Linda Lingle.
It was an unprecedented race cost-wise in which Djou and Hanabusa each spent in excess of a million dollars. Ramping up that kind of fundraising again and maybe more for the general election lies ahead.
"This is such big national news for the Republican party. I think Charles will get help from people all across the country, both Independents and Republicans, even some Democrats who realize we've got to slow down the spending that's going on in Congress," said Lingle.
The new congressman heads to Washington soon with work to do not only there but at home, all with an eye on keeping the seat beyond this 8-month duty.
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