Colleen Hanabusa | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromHawaii's1st district | |
| In office November 14, 2016 – January 3, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Takai |
| Succeeded by | Ed Case |
| In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Djou |
| Succeeded by | Mark Takai |
| 11thPresident of the Hawaii Senate | |
| In office January 2, 2009 – November 6, 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Bunda |
| Succeeded by | Shan Tsutsui |
| Member of theHawaii Senate from the 21st district | |
| In office January 20, 1999 – November 6, 2010 | |
| Preceded by | James Aki |
| Succeeded by | Maile Shimabukuro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Colleen Wakako Hanabusa (1951-05-04)May 4, 1951 (age 74) Waianae,Hawaii Territory, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (BA,MA,JD) |
Colleen Wakako Hanabusa (born May 4, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who served as theU.S. representative forHawaii's 1st congressional district from 2011 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2019. A member of theDemocratic Party, she ran for her party's nomination forgovernor of Hawaii in2018, challenging and losing to incumbent and fellow DemocratDavid Ige.
Before her election to theUnited States House of Representatives, Hanabusa was a member of theHawaii Senate.[1] She served as Senate Majority Leader before being elected Hawaii's first femalePresident of the Senate in 2007.[2][3] On August 24, 2011, she announced her intention to run for election to Congress.[4] On December 17, 2012, after the death of U.S. SenatorDaniel Inouye, it was announced that Inouye had sent a letter shortly before his death to GovernorNeil Abercrombie, stating his desire that Hanabusa be appointed to the seat. Abercrombie decided against appointing Hanabusa and selected Lieutenant GovernorBrian Schatz instead.[5][6][7] Hanabusa challenged Schatz in the Democratic primary for the2014 special election, but narrowly lost.[8]
In 2016, Hanabusa announced her intention to run in the1st congressional district special election to fill the remaining term of RepresentativeMark Takai, who died in July 2016; she won the Democratic primary for the race on August 13.[9] On November 8, 2016, Hanabusa won the special election for the remainder of Takai's term and also won election to a full term; although her seniority resumed immediately, she needed to be sworn in to perform congressional duties, and she took the oath on November 14.[10][11] In 2017, Hanabusa announced her decision to run for the governorship of Hawaii in2018 rather than reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives. She lost to incumbent Democratic governorDavid Ige in the primary, and Ige was reelected to a second term. In February 2020, Hanabusa announced her campaign forMayor of Honolulu in2020. She placed third in the nonpartisan blanket primary.
A fourth-generationAmerican of Japanese ancestry, Hanabusa grew up inWaiʻanae with her two younger brothers, her parents, and her grandparents. Her parents, Isao and June, owned a gas station.[12] Her maternal grandfather was confined at theHonouliuli Internment Camp on Oahu during World War II.[13] In 1969 she graduated fromSt. Andrew's Priory. She received a B.A. in economics and sociology in 1973 and an M.A. in sociology in 1975 from theUniversity of Hawaiʻi and in 1977 received a J.D. from theWilliam S. Richardson School of Law at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.[14]
Hanabusa is a labor lawyer with almost 30 years of experience, and a corporate officer in a family-run corporation. She has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward and White, Inc., served as a delegate to the Hawai`i State Judicial Conference, and was noted inHonolulu Magazine as one of Hawai`i's A+ Attorneys in 1993 and subsequent years.
In November 1998 Hanabusa was elected thestate senator from the 21st District. The 21st District includesWai'anae, where her family has resided for four generations, as well asKo Olina,Kahe Point,Nanakuli,Ma'ili,Makaha,Makua andKa'ena Point.
One of Hanabusa's first acts upon being elected was to organize senators to vote against the second-term confirmation ofHawaii Attorney GeneralMargery Bronster.[14]
Hanabusa served as Senate Majority Leader before being elected the first woman president of the Senate in 2006, making her the first Asian American woman to preside over a state legislative chamber in the United States.[2] In 2003 she was named one of Hawaii's "top ten political power brokers", along with the state's governor and two U.S. senators, byHawaii Business Magazine.[15]
Hanabusa ran unsuccessfully in a special election held in January 2003 to replace the latePatsy T. Mink as U.S. Representative fromHawai'i's 2nd congressional district, losing toEd Case, aBlue Dog Democrat.[16] In 2006 she ran for the same seat after Case retired to unsuccessfully challenge SenatorDaniel Akaka in the Democratic primary. Hanabusa was again unsuccessful, losing in the Democratic primary to formerLieutenant GovernorMazie Hirono by 844 votes.[17]
In 2002, while in the state legislature, Hanabusa emerged as the leading advocate for legislation authorizing $75 million in tax credits forKo Olina Resort, a move she declared necessary to spur development for the Leeward area, but which others saw as a reward for a close associate and political backer, Ko Olina developer Jeff Stone. When GovernorBen Cayetano vetoed the tax credit bill, Hanabusa took the unprecedented step of suing to overturn the veto.[18][19]
Within months, Hanabusa's then-fiancé John Souza received a preferential deal in purchasing one of Stone's homes in Ko Olina. In February 2005, less than two years after Souza bought the home, he sold it for a $421,000 profit, according to real estate records. Souza and Hanabusa, who were engaged at the time and married in 2008, then bought a $1 million home in another Ko Olina subdivision developed by Centex Homes of Texas.[20]
The Ko Olina tax-credit legislation, intended to promote development of a "world-class" aquarium at the resort, expired after plans for the aquarium were abandoned. Ko Olina Resort eventually returned the tax credit, but theLingle Administration and Hanabusa disagreed on how to use the returned funds.[21]
Hanabusa ran unsuccessfully in the May 22, 2010, special election to serve out the remaining months of former representativeNeil Abercrombie's term; then-City CouncilmanCharles Djou defeated her without winning a majority of the votes under the rules of the all-party election that split the Democratic vote between Hanabusa and rivalEd Case, a moderate Democrat.[22][23]
U.S. SenatorsDaniel Inouye andDaniel Akaka supported Hanabusa's special election campaign and backed her again in the September primary. Some in the nationalDemocratic Party indicated a preference for Case, who previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives before an unsuccessful U.S. Senate primary challenge to Akaka in 2006. The national Democratic leadership remained officially neutral.[24][25]
On May 30, 2010, Case, citing his third-place showing in the special election and to avoid a rift among Democrats that could lead to Djou's winning the November election, announced his withdrawal from the race and gave his support to Hanabusa.[26] That made Hanabusa the top Democratic candidate in the September party primary, which she won.[27] Hanabusa subsequently challenged Djou for the same seat and on November 2 won the general election, 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent.[1][28][29]
Although there was some speculation that she would run to succeed retiring senatorDaniel Akaka, Hanabusa opted to run for reelection to Congress.[4] She faced Djou again, and defeated him 55% to 45%.
On December 17, 2012, thesecond-longest serving U.S. Senator in history,Daniel Inouye, who had represented the state of Hawaii since it became a state in 1959, died of respiratory complications.[30] Shortly before his death, Inouye sent Hawaii GovernorNeil Abercrombie a letter requesting that Hanabusa be appointed to his seat for the remainder of his term. Hanabusa submitted her name for consideration to theDemocratic Party of Hawaii,[31] which then included her on a list of three candidates for Abercrombie's consideration.[5][6][32] Abercrombie choseLieutenant Governor of HawaiiBrian Schatz.[7][33] On December 26, 2012, Schatz was sworn in byVice PresidentJoe Biden. On May 2, 2013, Hanabusa announced she would challenge Schatz in the 2014 Democratic primary. She said "Brian was not elected. He was appointed, and I don't think the people have really had an opportunity to weigh in on who they want to represent them in the United States Senate."[34]
In May, Hanabusa was endorsed by Inouye's widow, Irene, who said, "Shortly after she was elected president of the Hawaii State Senate, Dan recognized that Colleen was more than capable of succeeding him and he began to mentor her. His last wish was that Colleen serve out his term because he was confident in her ability to step into the Senate and immediately help Hawaii."[35] Hanabusa's campaign hired many of Inouye's staffers.[36] Polling throughout the campaign was controversially mixed, with each campaign releasing different poll results.[37] In the end, Schatz won narrowly, with 115,401 votes to Hanabusa's 113,632.
In May 2016 Hanabusa's successor in the House,Mark Takai, announced he was not running for reelection that year due topancreatic cancer. Hanabusa subsequently announced that she would once again run for the seat.[38] Prior to his July 20, 2016, death, Takai endorsed Hanabusa to succeed him.[39] Two weeks after his death, on August 3, Hanabusa announced that she would also run in thespecial election on November 8, 2016, the same date as the regularly scheduled election, to finish Takai's term in the114th United States Congress.[40] On August 13 she easily won the Democratic primary for the general election.[41] On October 24 Hanabusa resigned as Chair of theHART Board.[42] She won both the special and general elections with more than 65 percent of the vote.
After House GOP leaderJohn Boehner pledged to give incumbent CongressmanCharles Djou a seat on the Appropriations Committee, SenatorDaniel Inouye said that Democrats would also name Hanabusa to Appropriations.[43] However, House Democratic leadership instead appointed her to the Armed Services and Natural Resources committees.[44]
Hanabusa was the thirdBuddhist to join the United States Congress, preceded byHank Johnson of Georgia andMazie Hirono of Hawaii.[45] Her election made Hawaii the only state with a majority non-Christian House delegation. She was a member of theNew Democrat Coalition.[46]
She left the House at the end of the113th Congress to run for US Senate in 2014, losing in the primary. After regaining the seat in 2016, she chose to run in the Democratic primary for governor of Hawaii in 2018, leaving the House again after the115th Congress.
As a representative, Hanabusa sponsored 14 bills, including:[47]
In addition to the bills listed above, Hanabusa sponsored several bills relating to Filipino World War II veterans that would, among other things, recognize their efforts inWorld War II and provide veteran benefits to them.
After leaving Congress in January 2015, Hanabusa continued with her labor law practice. In June 2015 Honolulu mayorKirk Caldwell appointed her to the board of directors of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART), the builder ofSkyline,[49] to replace Carrie Okinaga. She became its chairperson in April 2016 and resigned from it in October 2016.[50] She served on the board of directors for Hawaii Gas from June 2015 to November 2016.[51]
Hanabusa decided not to run for reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 and instead ran for statewide office, this time forgovernor of Hawaii. She challenged incumbent governorDavid Ige in the Democratic primary. Based on polling as late as May 2018, she was favored to defeat Ige in the August primary,[52] but Ige won, 50 percent to 43 percent.[53] Fellow DemocratEd Case ran for andwon Hanabusa's House seat, and took office in January 2019.
On February 29, 2020, Hanabusa officially launched her campaign formayor of Honolulu, joining several other candidates for the office.[54] She placed third in the August 2020nonpartisan blanket primary and endorsedRick Blangiardi,[55] who won the general election in November.[56]
In July 2021, Hanabusa was elected again to theHonolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board of directors, and again as its chairperson, after having resigned from the role in 2016.[57] In 2024, she was elected to an additional one-year term as chairperson.[58] Hanabusa resigned from the board in September 2025.[59]
Hanabusa married former State Sheriff John F. Souza III in 2008,[60] after their engagement was noted in 2004.[61] Hanabusa has no children.[62]
The number of Buddhists in Congress fell from three to two, as Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, lost her bid for a Senate seat.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of the Hawaii Senate 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromHawaii's 1st congressional district 2011–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromHawaii's 1st congressional district 2016–2019 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| Territorial delegate (1899–1959) |  | ||||
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| One at-large seat (1959–1963) | |||||
| Two at-large seats (1963–1971) |
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| Districts (1971–present) |
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| International | |
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| People | |
| Other | |
