Manu Powers enters Hawaii County Council District 7 race in West Hawaii

Manu Powers stepped into the Hawaii County Council District 7 race on May 27 with a message aimed squarely at the everyday pressures shaping Kona and the surrounding communities: housing, affordability, infrastructure and the strain of growth in West Hawaii.

District 7 covers parts of Holualoa, Honona, Kahaluu-Keauhou and most of Kailua-Kona, including Historic Kailua Village, placing the contest in one of the island’s busiest population and business corridors. That stretch of coastline and upland neighborhoods carries some of the county’s sharpest tensions, from limited homes for local families to traffic, flood risk, shoreline stewardship and the demands of commercial development.

Powers said she wants to focus on creative housing solutions that keep local families in West Hawaii, along with infrastructure improvements, natural-resource protection, support for small businesses and local agriculture, and community safety rooted in cultural respect. Those priorities put her campaign on a direct collision course with the practical questions that often decide county races: where housing gets built, how roads and utilities keep up, how the county responds to flood hazards, and whether residents can afford to stay in the communities where they work and raise children.

Her entry also carried an early signal of support from current District 7 Councilmember Rebecca Villegas, who is term-limited and cannot run again. That endorsement suggests Powers is trying to present herself as a continuation of the district’s current direction rather than a clean break, even as the race opens a broader debate over how well county government has handled growth and the cost of living in West Hawaii.

Powers brings a mix of business and civic roles to the campaign. Raised in Kalapana, she owns a small business in Kailua-Kona and serves as president of the Daughters of Hawaii. She also sits on the Kailua Village Business Improvement District, the Queen Liliuokalani Trust Community Advisory Group, Mayor Kimo Alameda’s Flood Mitigation Task Force, the Healy Foundation, the Ke Kai Ala Foundation and the King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade Committee.

For District 7 voters, the race is likely to become an early test of which candidate can turn broad promises into measurable positions on housing, road maintenance, water, tourism pressure and the cost of living. In a district that sits at the center of West Hawaii’s growth, the next councilmember will help shape whether that growth is managed for residents or absorbed as another layer of strain.