LAHAINA, Maui — Democratic state Sen. Roz Baker defeated Republican Jan Shields after a bruising campaign for the 5th Senate seat (W. Maui-S. Maui).

Shields' candidacy arose from a state health planning agency's 2006 rejection of a proposal for the $212 million Malulani Health & Medical Center in Kihei. Although the decision was made by an administrator appointed by Gov. Linda Lingle, Baker suffered community backlash from the action because she expressed reservations about the project.

Attack ads by Shields and the Republican Party portrayed Baker as insensitive to the healthcare needs of her constituents and put the lawmaker on the defensive for much of the campaign as she was forced to respond to the "misinformation" and "outright lies" spread by her opponent.

Baker, 62, head of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, countered with a laundry list of her achievements in the areas of healthcare and education, and endorsements from well-known Democrats, including Maya Soetoro-Ng, sister of president-elect Barack Obama.

Baker is no stranger to tough election fights, but she said this was "the nastiest, most negative" campaign of her career. She estimated the Republican Party alone spent $150,000 on ads aimed at "knocking me down."

"That's not Hawai'i. That's not Maui. That's not what we're about," she said. "(The early results) affirms that voters are turned off by negative campaigning."

In her first campaign for state office, in 1986, Baker lost her House race by a mere six votes. After a comeback win two years later, she served for 10 years in the House and Senate before fellow Democrat Jan Yagi Buen beat her in the 1998 Senate primary. Baker returned to the Senate in 2002.