1978Final resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Hawaii Senate District 7
Hawaii State Senate · Hawaii
4 seats: Steve Cobb (D), Patricia Saiki (R), Dennis Oconnor (D), W. Buddy Soares (R) won.
4 seatsSteve CobbDemocrat · winner
20.4%30,575
Patricia SaikiRepublican · winner · incumbent
18.6%27,901
Dennis OconnorDemocrat · winner · incumbent
18.6%27,807
W. Buddy SoaresRepublican · winner · incumbent
15.1%22,678
Donald NishimuraDemocrat · incumbent
12.3%18,359
Carol FanningDemocrat
8.1%12,153
Wayne C. ThiessenRepublican
4.2%6,287
Emil A. OfferRepublican
2.7%4,046
149,806 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The candidates
Steve Cobb (D)Patricia Saiki (R)Dennis Oconnor (D)W. Buddy Soares (R)Donald Nishimura (D)Carol Fanning (D)
Also on the ballot: Wayne C. Thiessen (Republican), 4.2%; Emil A. Offer (Republican), 2.7%