39 Facts About Ed Case

Edward Espenett Case was born on September 27,1952 and is an American lawyer and politician.

Ed Case represented the 2nd district, which covers the rest of the state, from 2002 to 2007.

Ed Case first came to prominence in Hawaii as majority leader of the Hawaii State Legislature and in his 2002 campaign for governor of Hawaii as a Blue Dog Democrat.

Ed Case was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002 in a special election to fill the seat of Patsy Mink, who died of pneumonia, Case represented Hawaii's 2nd congressional district until 2006, when he unsuccessfully challenged Daniel Akaka in the Democratic primary for the US Senate.

In 2010, Ed Case was one of two Democratic candidates in the special election for Hawaii's 1st congressional district.

Ed Case again ran for the Senate in 2012 after Akaka announced his retirement, but lost to Mazie Hirono.

In July 2013, Ed Case announced that he was joining Outrigger Enterprises Group and that his political career was "likely" over.

However, in June 2018, Ed Case announced he would run again in Hawaii's 1st congressional district.

Ed Case then attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1975.

In 1981, Ed Case graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco with a Juris Doctor.

From 1981 to 1982, Case served as law clerk to Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William S Richardson.

Ed Case resigned his partnership upon winning election to the United States Congress in 2002.

Ed Case got his first taste of political life as a legislative assistant to Congressman and then Senator Spark Matsunaga from 1975 to 1978.

Ed Case became its chairman in 1987, a position he held until leaving the board in 1989.

Ed Case served four two-year terms in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002, where he focused on basic change in Hawaii governance.

On January 21,1997, in the House Judiciary Committee, Ed Case cast the lone vote against advancing HB117, which would allow a referendum to effectively constitutionally ban gay marriage.

Ed Case ran in a second special election on January 4,2003, for Mink's 108th Congress seat, facing more than three dozen other candidates.

In 2004, Ed Case defeated Republican challenger Mike Gabbard, a social conservative who focused almost exclusively on gay marriage issues.

In June 2018, Ed Case ran in the crowded Democratic primary, set for August 11.

Ed Case entered the House of Representatives too late to cast a vote on the Iraq War Resolution, but supported the Iraq War throughout his tenure in the House.

Ed Case was one of only 34 Democrats to support reducing the estate tax.

Ed Case was one of 15 Democrats to support lower taxes on investment income.

In 2005, Ed Case voted for an amendment by Jeb Hensarling that would eliminate funding for PBS, NPR, and Title X family planning, including money for Planned Parenthood.

Ed Case rejoined the Blue Dog Coalition on January 29,2019.

On December 18,2019, Ed Case voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

Ed Case voted to provide Israel with support following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

On July 11,2024, Ed Case called for Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 United States presidential election.

On March 6,2025, Ed Case was one of ten Democrats in Congress who joined all of their Republican colleagues in voting to censure Democratic congressman Al Green for interrupting President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address.

In early 2001, at the beginning of his fourth term in the Hawaii State House, Ed Case chose not to continue as Majority Leader.

Ed Case supporters were discontented with the "Democratic Party of Hawaii machine" that had ruled the state for 40 years and was perceived to have left the economy stagnant, a "machine" to which Harris was closely tied.

Ed Case told Hawaii voters that his campaign was one of government reform and the future, as opposed to Hirono and Anderson, who represented the "Old Boys' Network" and a status quo past.

Ed Case challenged Senator Daniel Akaka in the Democratic primary election.

Ed Case was one of only a handful of Democratic senators to vote against the use of force resolution against Iraq in 2002; Case, while not in Congress at the time of the vote, had said he would have voted in support of the resolution.

On March 29,2009, Ed Case announced his candidacy for Hawaii's 1st congressional district seat, being vacated by Neil Abercrombie.

Ed Case was at odds with the party establishment over his primary challenge to Akaka in 2006 when he was still Representative of the 2nd district.

Ed Case initially said he would run in the next primary against Hanabusa, but later changed his mind and dropped out of the race, citing party unity and his third-place finish.

Ed Case has two children from his first marriage from 1988 to 1998.

Ed Case became reacquainted with her at their 30th class reunion.

Ed Case has received criticism for referring to himself as "an Asian trapped in a white body".