Kapaa candidate Jeremy Haupt pitches fresh approach to council, bridge gaps

Jeremy Haupt is running in one of Kauai County’s most crowded council races with a message aimed at tone as much as policy: a “fresh new approach” and a push to “bridge the misunderstandings” he sees around county government and its residents.

Haupt, of Kapaa, filed nomination papers on April 23 to seek a seat on the Kauai County Council. His pitch lands in a year when the seven-member council is unusually wide open. Four of the seven seats are on the ballot, with Council Chair Mel Rapozo, Bernard Carvalho Jr. and Felicia Cowden running for mayor and Vice Chair KipuKai Kualii term-limited.

That openness has helped turn the 2026 race into a countywide scramble. A May 19 forum story listed 32 candidates for the seven council seats, including two incumbents, and 23 registered candidates introduced themselves at the Kapaa Business Association’s political forum. Taylor H. Shigemoto also filed nomination papers on May 22, underscoring how the field continued to take shape even as the final registration deadline for county positions approached on June 2.

Civil Beat has noted that the unusually large number of open seats could open the door to a new council majority and bring broader geographic and gender diversity to the chamber. For voters, that means the race is not just about individual candidates, but about what kind of governing body emerges after the votes are counted.

The stakes are especially high in a county where housing, infrastructure, tourism pressure and constituent trust are already constant pressure points. The county’s Elections Division says its job is to provide open, accessible, honest and secure election services, and the County of Kauai says the council is the county’s legislative branch, elected at the same time to two-year terms. The primary election will be conducted by mail on Aug. 8.

Haupt’s campaign message suggests he is betting that voters want fewer barriers between council members and the public, and fewer barriers among council members themselves. In a race this crowded, that promise will be tested not by slogans but by whether candidates can name the divides in Kapaa and across Kauai County, then show how they would turn disagreement into action on the issues residents feel most directly.