Luella Costales | |
---|---|
Member of the
Hawaii House of Representatives from the 39th district | |
In office March 11, 2022 – November 8, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Ty Cullen |
Succeeded by | Elijah Pierick |
Personal details | |
Born | Los Angeles, California |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | University of California San Diego ( BA) |
Luella Toledo Costales is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives. She was appointed to represent the 39th district after incumbent Representative Ty Cullen resigned in February 2022. [1] [2]
Costales was born in Los Angeles and moved to Hawaiʻi in 1992 after her children were born. [3] She graduated from the University of California San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication/Visual Arts and minors in Literature/Writing and Sociology. [4]
Costales previously served as executive director of the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau Federation [3] and the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu. [5] She was previously the director of fund development for the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific and currently works as the community and resource manager for the Oahu Economic Development Board. [1]
Costales was appointed to the Honolulu Police Commission in 2012 by Mayor Peter Carlisle. [6] She resigned in 2017 in protest over a lack of gender, ethnic, and work background diversity on a consultant-selected panel reviewing candidates for a new police chief to replace Louis Kealoha. [7]
Governor David Ige appointed Costales to fill the 39th district seat left vacant after incumbent Representative Ty Cullen resigned due to pleading guilty to federal bribery charges. [2] She was sworn in on March 11, 2022. [8] Costales did not run for a full term in the 2022 Hawaiʻi House of Representatives election, [9] and she was succeeded by Republican Elijah Pierick. [10]
Costales had previously run for the 36th district in 2014, losing the Democratic primary to former representative Marilyn Lee who went on to lose to incumbent Republican Beth Fukumoto. [11] [12]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Marilyn Lee | 3,762 | 64.7 | |
Democratic | Luella Costales | 1,598 | 27.5 | |
Independent | Over and Under votes | 454 | 7.8 | |
Total votes | 5,814 | 100 |