[Lost in 2022 Democratic gubernatorial primary.] Kai Kahele, a former combat pilot, said a conversation with his dying father inspired him to get involved in politics. “Laying in the hospital knowing his time was near, my dad, the late State Senator Gil Kahele, urged me to carry on his work in public service,” the younger Kahele said. “He knew there was work left undone.” Kahele was appointed to the state Senate after his father died in 2016 and won the seat later that year. Climate change, affordable education, and Native Hawaiian and indigenous peoples’ rights were among his priorities in the Hawaii Legislature.