Service, sacrifice, and perseverance
John Dunbar has lived in Ha'ikΕ« for decades. He came to Maui because it is home. Everything he has done β in the Navy, on the race course, in the courtroom, in his community β reflects the same quality: he does not stop.
U.S. Navy SEAL
John Dunbar earned the Navy SEAL designation β one of the most demanding military pipelines in the world. SEALs are a proud tradition. None of them talk publicly about the details of their missions, and John is no different. But when he says he will fight for Maui, he speaks the language of someone who knows what it means when the stakes are real.
β Sports Illustrated, May 14, 1979
The Original Ironman
In February 1978, fifteen athletes gathered in Hawaii for a race no one had done before. John finished second. He came back in 1979 and placed second again. That 1979 race became the subject of a 10-page Sports Illustrated feature that launched triathlon as a global sport. The race now has 680,000 annual competitors. From 1994 to 1998 he organized and produced his own Maui triathlon β managing sponsors, logistics, television production, and a broadcast on ESPN β generating an estimated $5 million in economic impact for Maui. He has run complex operations before.
Ha'ikΕ« Is Home
John has lived on two acres in Ha'ikΕ« for decades. He operates a licensed bed and breakfast on his North Shore property β owner-occupied, hosted, permitted under Maui County Code Chapter 19.64. He opened his doors during the pandemic for quarantine and took in families displaced by the 2023 fires. This is not politics for him. This is his community.
The Fight for Vindication β and Why It Matters
If you search John's name online, you will find news articles about an arrest and a conviction. Those articles tell you how the story started. They do not tell you how it ended.
The conviction. In 2004, John was arrested. At trial, he was acquitted of the two actual charges β Harassment and Resisting Arrest. He was then convicted of attempted escape in the second degree β a charge the prosecution added at the last minute that was never in the original indictment. He was sentenced to probation and received early discharge in 2008. He fought the conviction for sixteen years. In 2021 a court vacated the conviction. With the conviction vacated, the state could have retried John. Instead it dismissed the case with prejudice β permanently, with no possibility of refiling. John P. Dunbar Jr. has no criminal record. β Findings re Vacate Felony Conviction Β· Judgment re Vacate Felony Conviction Β· Dismissal of Underlying Charges
The DNA case. In 2014 the State filed a complaint demanding John's DNA, using his felony conviction as the legal basis. He refused to comply. The case was dismissed with prejudice by Judge Richard Bissen β now the sitting Mayor of Maui County and John's opponent in the 2026 race β who found the State had no legal authority to demand the sample. The State appealed. The Appellate Court affirmed in a published opinion β State v. Dunbar, 139 Hawai'i 9, 383 P.3d 112 (Haw. App. 2016) β with formal Judgment entered October 26, 2016. The conviction the State relied upon as the basis for the DNA demand was subsequently vacated. β Trial Court Order Finding DNA Demand Unlawful Β· Appellate Court Affirmance of Trial Court DNA Order Β· Appellate Court Judgment