The state Supreme Court has rejected Republican congressional candidate Steve Tataii's claim that he lost the November general election because incumbent Rep. Neil Abercrombie refused to debate him.

Tataii received 38,115 votes to Abercrombie's 154,181 and filed a challenge to those results Nov. 24.

The challenge said Tataii's vote total "could have been considerably higher if debates had taken place," and claimed that "Abercrombie's refusal to debate caused (him) to lose the election," a ruling from the high court released yesterday said.

In rejecting the challenge, the justices said Tataii "made no showing that Abercrombie was under any obligation to debate."

Therefore, the court said, "the refusal to debate was not an error, mistake or irregularity that would change the results of the election."