With Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's decision to not seek re-election to the 2nd District congressional seat in 2020 to focus on her campaign for president, it's creating a rare open race in a state with a history of long political dynasties.

State Senator Kai Kahele (D-Hilo) was already challenging Gabbard for her seat, and got a wave of donations and endorsements, especially after Gabbard's feud with Hillary Clinton.  Much of his campaign was centered around criticizing Gabbard for focusing too much on running for president and ignoring people back home in Hawaii.

Now, the dynamic of the race has changed overnight.  Kahele remains the frontrunner, but he's now facing a wide open race.

"Not only does that change his campaign which has been pretty much solely focused on Gabbard saying 'what are you doing for Hawaii. I'm gonna be the guy that represents Hawaii while you're off running for president.' Well now I'd be very surprised if that race for the 2nd congressional district didn't draw at least half a dozen other people," analyst Chad Blair with the Honoulu Civil Beat says.

That's what happened in the 1st District in 2018, when Congressman Ed Case was elected out of a wide field of Democratic candidates.

One of those candidates was former State Rep. Kaniela Ing.  Ing says being from Maui, he once dreamed of representing the 2nd District in Congress, but the opportunity never presented itself because of Hawaii's history of electing representatives for long period of times.  So he ran for the state's other seat when it opened and lost.

This time around, Ing says he's already hearing from people who want him to run.  He says for now, he wants to see what Kahele has to offer the district, but understands for many Hawaii politicians with aspirations of higher office, this is a rare opportunity that might only come around once every decade.

"There are people waiting not just millennials, but Gen X'ers and baby boomers it just skipped so many generations waiting for this seat," Ing says.

Hawaii's history of long-serving members includes Senator Daniel Inouye who served for more than 40 years and died in office, and Daniel Akaka, who also served for decades.

Since the 2nd District, which covers all of the state except for urban Honolulu was created in 1971, only 5 people, including Gabbard have ever held the seat.

Combine that with 2020 being a presidential year, and many Native Hawaiians politically engaged over issues like Mauna Kea, this race will heat up.  The primary will be in August of 2020.