State Sen. Ron Menor's long career at the Hawaii Capitol crashed following his driving under the influence arrest, as voters made the Mililani Democrat the only incumbent lawmaker to lose his primary election.

"I was kind of stunned by the results," said Menor, who had run for the U.S. Congress and was a leader in efforts to lower gas prices. "The DUI incident was a factor, but I believe what ultimately led to the election result was low voter turnout."

Menor was defeated by city employee Michelle Kidani, a fellow Democrat who beat him by 107 votes out of 8,920 cast in their Sept. 20 primary contest. Kidani will take over the Senate seat because no other party fielded a candidate for the November general election.

Kidani, who is Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann's executive assistant for the Neighborhood Commission Office, said voters were motivated by Menor's DUI. Prosecutors said Menor had a blood-alcohol level of 0.147 when he was arrested April 27, well above the legal limit of 0.08.

Menor served 48 hours in jail, was fined $800, had his license revoked for 90 days and was ordered to taken an alcohol treatment class.

"Some of the people that did contact me said they were not happy with Ron's DUI. That's not all of it," Kidani said. "It was also his denial of the fact and his lying about the situation that made it worse."

Refusing to take a full field sobriety test, Menor said he had only two small glasses of wine with a meal and was driving slowly because he had lost his glasses and wore only a single contact lens. He also told police he had a fractured foot that made it difficult to walk and gave his occupation as an attorney without mentioning that he was a state lawmaker.

Menor has served in the state House and Senate since 1982, interrupted by a two-year gap in 1990 after he unsuccessfully ran for Congress. He also ran for Congress in 2006, coming in seventh place out of 10 Democratic candidates including now-U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono.

Menor was known for sponsoring gas price controls in 2005, but the law was suspended after eight months when lawmakers couldn't tell whether it was effective in lowering prices.

He also helped pass legislation allowing Hawaii residents to buy cheap foreign prescription drugs over the Internet, lowering auto insurance rates, regulating health insurance and promoting renewable energy. He was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and the Environment.

Menor said he was surprised that he lost the race because his polling indicated he had a large lead. But he blames the lowest primary turnout in Hawaii primary election history — less than 35 percent of registered voters — for his downfall.

"Many of those people who would have voted for me clearly did not show up to the polls," Menor said.

With Menor gone from the Senate, Kidani will emphasize different issues such as dedicated education funding and tort reform. Menor may have lost votes because he didn't attend many community meetings, Kidani said.

"I will definitely be more in touch with the community," she said.

Menor, an attorney, doesn't expect his political career to end forever, and he didn't rule out a run for office again in two years.

"While I will not be in elected office, I don't plan on riding off into the sunset at this point in time," Menor said.

Another candidate who pleaded no contest in a drunken driving case, Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, D-Waipahu-Waikele, survived a primary challenge. He meets Republican Rito Saniatan in the general election.