Fern Holland files for Kauai Council re-election, touts environmental record

Fern Holland has filed nomination papers to seek re-election to the Kauai County Council, turning her first term into a campaign test on environmental protection, housing, resilience and public accountability.

Holland filed on May 13, and the County Clerk’s Elections Division publicly announced the filing on May 14. Hawaii’s candidate filing period runs through June 2, with the primary set for August 8 and the general election for November 3. Holland, who was sworn in in December 2024 after narrowly defeating incumbent Ross Kagawa for position No. 7 in the 2024 general election, is now asking voters to extend a tenure that has been defined in large part by committee work and conservation-focused legislation.

Her council profile shows she chairs the Parks & Recreation / Transportation Committee and serves as vice chair of the Public Safety & Human Services Committee. She is also a member of the Public Works & Veterans Services, Housing & Intergovernmental Relations, Finance & Economic Development, and Planning committees, a roster that places her in the middle of nearly every county debate tied to roads, housing, shoreline management and public services.

The clearest legislative marker of Holland’s first term came last year, when she introduced Bill 2976. The Kauai County Council passed the measure unanimously, and Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami signed it into law on December 10, 2025. The ordinance prohibits the sale, rental or distribution of disposable polystyrene foam bodyboards in Kauai County, a step the county said was intended to protect marine life, avian populations and the island environment.

Holland’s campaign is also leaning on a longer record of environmental advocacy. In 2020, The Garden Island identified her as a community organizer for the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action during pesticide-free training for county park workers at Kapaa Beach Park. That earlier work fits her current emphasis on reducing pesticide reliance in county parks and on the kind of day-to-day stewardship that residents can see in local facilities and shoreline spaces.

Her re-election pitch reaches beyond conservation. Holland is pointing to infrastructure and disaster resilience, housing, agriculture, food security and transparency as core priorities, while warning that Kauai faces rising costs, housing instability, over-tourism and the erosion of local communities. Those pressures are not abstract: the Hawaii Housing Planning Study says the state will need 64,490 additional housing units by 2027, and Kauai County continues to update its Climate Adaptation and Action Plan and its Multi-Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan.

The island’s shoreline politics add another layer. In 2023, the Hawaii Senate recognized Kauai County for adopting a Sea Level Rise Constraint District, underscoring how coastal policy has become a lasting issue for County Council members. Holland’s filing places those questions squarely in the 2026 race, where voters will weigh whether her first-term record matches the environmental and community-protection message she is carrying into another campaign.