Gov. Green appoints Michael Ratcliffe to House District 28 seat

A small slice of urban Honolulu that packs about 27,312 residents into 2.2 square miles now has a new House member, a reminder for Big Island readers that one vacancy in the Legislature can still affect statewide decisions on housing, labor and public safety.

Gov. Josh Green announced on April 13 that he appointed Michael Covenant “Cov” Ratcliffe to represent House District 28, which includes Sand Island, Iwilei and Chinatown. Ratcliffe was selected from a list submitted by the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi under Hawaii Revised Statutes 17-4, the state law that requires the governor to fill a House vacancy within 60 calendar days from three names offered by the same political party as the departing legislator. Ratcliffe was set to be sworn in at noon during a House floor session and will serve the rest of Daniel Holt’s term, which expires in November 2026.

Ratcliffe comes to the seat with a legal background that runs through labor law and the state court system. He serves on the Kalihi-Pālama Neighborhood Board, earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and history from California State University–East Bay, and received his law degree from the University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law. Before and after law school, he worked in the Attorney General’s Appellate Division, for Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Associate Justice Sabrina S. McKenna and, later, as a clerk for Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals Associate Judge Kimberly Tsumoto Guidry. Ratcliffe has said he wants to focus on the rising cost of living, public safety and affordable housing, issues that reach far beyond Oʻahu and into county debates on every island.

Holt resigned on February 13 after being appointed special assistant to the chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, saying he wanted to allow time for a smooth transition. House Speaker Nadine Nakamura praised his work as co-chair of the Native Hawaiian Caucus and for helping nonprofits affected by federal cuts with Act 310 funds. Holt had represented the district since 2016, and the seat carries deeper political history: his father, Milton Holt, represented the same area in the Senate and House from 1978 to 1996. Ratcliffe also described himself as the son of a Mexican immigrant, adding a personal lens to a district where immigrant families, renters and workers have long felt the squeeze of Honolulu’s housing and cost pressures.