Leading Kauai mayoral candidate excluded from Līhue forum

Megeso-William Denis was left off the speaker lineup at a mayoral forum Thursday at the Philippine Cultural Center in Līhue, narrowing the field voters could hear before Kauai picks a new mayor. The event was held at 4475f Nūhou Street, a site that has already been used for candidate-driven civic gatherings on the island.

The exclusion mattered because Kauai is set to elect a new mayor for the first time in eight years, with incumbent Derek Kawakami term-limited and the primary election set for Aug. 8, 2026. Denis, whose full ballot name in 2026 appears as Megeso-William Denis, filed nomination papers on March 16 and was one of at least seven listed candidates for mayor as of May 18.

The race includes Bernard Carvalho Jr., Mel Rapozo, Felicia Cowden, Laura Andaya-Lindsay, Jacqueline Manibusan and Maryanne Kusaka, along with Denis. Denis also ran for mayor in 2022, when he was one of four challengers to Kawakami on the Aug. 13 primary ballot. His campaign has described him as a former small-business and Fortune 500 executive who has lived on Kauai for more than 13 years and is running on a Kauai 1st platform centered on transparency, stewardship and local control.

The Līhue venue itself has become a familiar political gathering place. Mālama Kauai held a candidate forum and food-access fair there on June 13, and a separate May 16 forum at Ohana Christian Fellowship in Kapaa drew 23 registered candidates. That Kapaa event used a format that gave each candidate three minutes for introductory remarks and then audience questions, a much broader approach than a forum that left Denis out of view.

For voters preparing to mail or cast ballots ahead of the primary, the practical effect was simple: one fewer chance to compare the people seeking countywide power on a race that will decide who runs Kauai County next. In a contest with at least seven listed candidates and no incumbent on the ballot, every public stage matters.