HONOLULU – Hawaii Democrats on Wednesday picked U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz and Department of Land and Natural Resources Deputy Director Esther Kiaaina as final nominees for the state's open U.S. Senate seat.

Louise Kim McCoy, a spokeswoman for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, confirmed the selections to The Associated Press. The AP learned of the names earlier through a member of the committee who voted on the names, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the list.

Hanabusa, Schatz and Kiaaina emerged from a crop of 14 candidates. Earlier Wednesday, 13 of the 14 candidates briefly made their cases before the state party's central committee in a meeting at the party's headquarters in small mall east of downtown Honolulu. Those not present made their cases in video messages, including Hanabusa, a front-runner for the job thanks to Inouye himself.