Kauai's mayoral race is unfolding against the backdrop of two disasters, and whoever wins faces a tough recovery job ahead.

• A hurricane hit Kauai in September, causing roughly $400 million in damage to neighborhoods, hotels, and homes.
• The storm hurt tourism and jobs on the island, with businesses that depend on visitors forced to shut down temporarily.
• A fire at the Lihue Civic Center knocked out county IT systems the day after the hurricane, disrupting services like driver's licensing and property tax processing.
• Both candidates say restoring those services, fixing aging infrastructure, and tackling the high cost of living are top priorities.
• The race itself was disrupted, with both campaigns pausing to help with storm recovery instead of campaigning normally.

Outlook: Whoever becomes mayor will have to move quickly on disaster recovery and restoring county services while also addressing long-standing cost-of-living and infrastructure problems.