HONOLULU -- Republican congressional candidate Charles Djou said a come-from-behind Republican win in the Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts bodes well for his campaign in the heavily Democratic state of Hawaii.

It's been 22 years since voters elected a Republican to represent urban Honolulu in the U.S. House -- Pat Saiki in 1988.

But since then, that district from Makapu'u to Mililani has voted Republican in four gubernatorial races.

Republican Scott Brown's come-from-behind Senate seat victory in a solidly Democratic Massachusetts is something that Honolulu City Council member Charles Djou hopes to replicate in a special election for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who is running for governor.

"We've had enough of multibillion-dollar budget deficits and multibillion-dollar stimulus packages that don't work in Hawaii. Just as we did in Massachusetts, I think it's going to send a profound statement to the nation," Djou said.

A KITV-4-Star Bulletin poll of likely voters shows Democrat Ed Case 20 points ahead of Djou with 37 percent of the vote, followed by Democrat Colleen Hanabusa who has 25 percent. Djou had 17 percent.

"You know, voters feel left out nowadays, whether they're in Massachusetts, whether they're in Hawaii," Case said. "What they want is a government that is responsive to them, not to the insiders. They want their elected officials to go out there and solve the problems, not get into a partisan fight."

Djou said he has raised nearly $400,000 for the campaign so far. Case said he's raised about half that, around $200,000.

The special election for Congress, expected to be held in May, is winner take all, which means there is no run-off, so the candidate with the most votes wins outright.

One scenario is that Hawaii state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and Case could split the Democrats' vote. If Republican Djou convinces large numbers of undecided voters and independents to vote for him, political analyst Neil Milner said, "He does have a chance in the special, but it's again, the Republicans start with a historical handicap because they're the minority party here."

Djou said this is the next special congressional election in the nation and it will garner national attention, especially because it is in the president's home state of Hawaii.

But the national media aren't paying much attention yet. The Djou campaign set up a conference call so Washington, D.C. reporters could listen to his news conference on Wednesday, but the only three reporters who dialed in were from Hawaii.

Whoever wins the special election would have to run again in the fall.