Elmer Cravalho

Who is Elmer Cravalho?

Elmer F. Cravalho, a member of the Democratic Party, is best known as Maui's Mayor from 1969 to 1979 and former Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives. Cravalho is the descendant of Portuguese immigrants who settled in Hawaii.

Cravalho began his political career in 1955 as a member of Hawaii's territorial House of Representatives. He also served as House Speaker, a delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention, Maui mayor and chairman of the Maui Board of Water Supply.

Much of Maui's development can be traced to Cravalho's term as mayor. In the 1970s, he was responsible for developing the waterline from Wailuku to Wailea, which enabled the development of Kihei.

Cravalho had a part in the formation of Maui Economic Opportunity Inc., a private, nonprofit organization chartered in 1965 to help low-income elderly, children and youth, persons with disabilities, immigrants, other disadvantaged people and the general public to help themselves.

Cravalho left office suddenly in 1979, just months after winning re-election for a second term in the 1978 election. Democrat Hannibal Tavares won a special election in October 1979 to complete the remainder of Cravalho's term.