--- description: A Hawaiian lawmaker who is seeking higher office went on Tinder to connect with voters — but many on the mobile dating app missed his point title: Hawaiian Politician Who Used Tinder to Find Voters Got More Than He Bargained For image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [hawaii](/tag/hawaii/) ## hawaii Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Hawaiian Politician Who Used Tinder to Find Voters Got More Than He Bargained For  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 25, 2016 4:15 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 25, 2016 4:15 PM CUT A Hawaiian politician who is seeking higher office [went on Tinder to connect with voters](http://www.civilbeat.com/2016/01/hawaii-councilman-uses-tinder-in-senate-campaign/ "undefined")—but many singles on the mobile dating app missed his point entirely, he said. Hawaii County Councilman [Greggor Ilagan](https://www.facebook.com/greggorilagan/ "undefined") created a profile to start conversations about political change, he told the Honolulu _Civil Beat_. But the innocent effort did little to help his campaign. “At first, I put both genders—male and female,” said Ilagan, who is running for state senate (and happens to be single). “But because it’s a dating site, there were actually a lot of guys that were hitting on me.” “I was always having to direct people back to the main focus,” he added. “They asked me, ‘Oh, can I have a date?’ And I said, ‘Well, we can have a meeting and we can talk about government and maybe you can help out on the campaign.’” Ilagan, 29, said his agenda was laid out on his [Tinder](http://time.com/4190222/tinder-adds-std-testing-center-locator/ "undefined") profile page, where he wrote: “Hey you! Help me make a positive difference in our community. Swipe right and let’s talk,” according to the _Civil Beat_. “This year, I am running for State Senate. I bet we can find common ground on issues and make a positive impact around us. Swipe right and let’s get to know each other,” the message continued. “I thought the one-on-one interaction would be great, but it just leads to other things,” he said. “Now I know why people don’t campaign on it. Tinder just has a different environment and different expectation. I learned the hard way.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4192376/hawaii-councilman-tinder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4192376/hawaii-councilman-tinder/"},"headline":"Hawaiian Politician Who Used Tinder to Find Voters Got More Than He Bargained For","datePublished":"2016-01-25T16:15:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:08:33.336Z","description":"\"I learned the hard way\"","url":"https://time.com/4192376/hawaii-councilman-tinder/","keywords":["hawaii"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/hawaii/","name":"hawaii"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4192376/hawaii-councilman-tinder/","name":"Hawaiian Politician Who Used Tinder to Find Voters Got More Than He Bargained For"}}]}] ```