Background
Baptiste was born in Lihue, Kauai. Baptiste was a descendant of Portuguese immigrants who settled in Hawaii.
Baptiste was born in Lihue, Kauai. Baptiste was a descendant of Portuguese immigrants who settled in Hawaii.
He served as mayor of the County of Kauai in Hawaii from 2002 until his death. In 1996, Baptiste, then manager of the Kaua"i War Memorial Convention Hall and head of an islandwide park beautification program was elected to the Kaua"i County Council. In the 2002 mayoral election Baptiste faced two fellow councilmen, Democrats Ron Kouchi and Randal Valenciano.
In the runoff Baptiste defeated Kouchi, winning 12,174 votes to Kouchi"s 10,517.
That"s the cushion."
Baptiste died while in office of a heart attack on June 22, 2008. He was succeeded as mayor by his former deputy, Bernard Carvalho to complete the term in a special election, and was reelected to a full term in 2010.
Mayor Baptiste has since been memorialized with the Kapa"a New Town Park Facility renamed in his honor, following a million dollar upgrade of park facilities, including the installation of new lighting systems, locker rooms, and grass strips for the football field, improvements that Baptiste had long advocated foreign
In the September primary election Baptiste received 38% of the vote, Kouchi received 35%, and Valenciano won 21%, allowing Baptiste and Kouchi to advance to the runoff. In 2006, Baptiste avoided a runoff by two votes (he needed fifty percent of the vote plus one vote to win), joking, "We had one vote more than we needed to win.
Baptiste served as a member of the council for six years before running for mayor to succeed Republican Maryanne Kusaka, who was ineligible to run again due to term limits.
