41 Facts About Mazie Hirono

Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2013 as the junior United States senator from Hawaii.

Mazie Hirono served as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1981 to 1994 and as Hawaii's tenth lieutenant governor from 1994 to 2002 under Ben Cayetano.

Mazie Hirono was the Democratic nominee for governor of Hawaii in 2002, but lost to Republican Linda Lingle.

Mazie Hirono is the first elected female senator from Hawaii, the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, the first US senator born in Japan, and the nation's first Buddhist senator although she considers herself a non-practicing Buddhist.

Mazie Hirono is often cited with Hank Johnson as the first Buddhist to serve in the United States Congress.

Mazie Hirono is the third woman to be elected to Congress from Hawaii.

In 2012, Mazie Hirono was the Democratic nominee for the US Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Daniel Akaka.

Mazie Hirono was sworn in on January 3,2013, by Vice President Joe Biden.

Mazie Hirono was the only person of Asian ancestry serving in the US Senate from 2013 until 2017, when senators Tammy Duckworth and Kamala Harris were sworn in, representing Illinois and California, respectively.

Mazie Hirono is Hawaii's junior senator, and Brian Schatz is its senior senator.

Mazie Hirono was reelected to the Senate in 2018 and won a third term against Republican nominee Bob McDermott in 2024.

Mazie Hirono was born on November 3,1947, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan to Laura Chie Sato, a Japanese American, and Hirono Matabe, a Japanese veteran of World War II.

Mazie Hirono graduated from Kaimuki High School, which had a predominantly Japanese American student body at the time.

Mazie Hirono later attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, where she obtained her juris doctor degree in 1978.

In 1980, Mazie Hirono was elected to Hawaii's 12th House district in a multi-member district with Democratic State Representative David Hagino.

Mazie Hirono won the general election and served only one term in the 22nd district before retiring in 1994 to run for statewide office.

Mazie Hirono served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1981 to 1994, sponsoring many bills that became state law.

Ben Cayetano was the first Filipino American elected governor, and Mazie Hirono was the first Japanese immigrant to be elected lieutenant governor.

Mazie Hirono spearheaded the Pre-Plus program, a first-in-the-nation comprehensive universal preschool education program.

Mazie Hirono originally planned to run for mayor of Honolulu in a potential 2002 special election created by the vacancy of incumbent Mayor Jeremy Harris, who was planning to resign to run for governor of Hawaii.

Mazie Hirono worked to gain the support of Hawaii Democrats in her primary against former State House Majority Leader Ed Case.

Mazie Hirono's advantage was that she was the only candidate who had held statewide office and, as a result, had the most name recognition.

Mazie Hirono led in fundraising, helped by the endorsement of EMILY's List.

On May 4,2011, Mazie Hirono voted against the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would have prohibited federal health care programs from covering abortion costs, with exceptions for life-threatening cases.

In July 2011, Mazie Hirono voted for the Access to Birth Control Act, which mandates that pharmacies provide birth control to customers without undue delay.

Subsequently, on May 19,2011, Mazie Hirono announced her candidacy for Akaka's seat.

Mazie Hirono won the Democratic primary election on August 11,2012.

Mazie Hirono was endorsed as one of the Dean Dozen, a group of candidates chosen for their progressive values by Democracy for America, an organization founded by former Vermont governor Howard Dean.

Mazie Hirono is the first female senator from Hawaii, as well as the first Asian-born immigrant to be elected to the US Senate.

Mazie Hirono was a part of the first completely non-Christian congressional delegation from the state, which existed until the election of Mark Takai in 2014 as the representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district.

On December 12,2012, the Senate Democratic Steering Committee announced that Mazie Hirono would serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would give her influence on matters ranging from approving nominations of federal judges to setting criminal justice policy.

Mazie Hirono called for the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to be invoked to remove Donald Trump from office.

In July 2022, Mazie Hirono co-sponsored the Youth Voting Rights Act, comprehensive legislation to enforce the Twenty-Sixth Amendment and expand youth access to voting.

Mazie Hirono has been consistently endorsed by EMILY's List, an organization that endorses women running on pro-choice platforms.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mazie Hirono told the panel: "If you don't support abortion, don't get one, but leave everyone else to the painful decisions they have to make along with their physicians".

Mazie Hirono expressed disappointment when the Democrat-proposed Feinstein Amendment and the Republican-backed background check expansion and alert system both failed to pass the Senate.

On July 28,2017, two months after undergoing surgery for stage-four kidney cancer, Mazie Hirono spoke on the Senate floor and voted against the so-called "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act.

In January 2024, Mazie Hirono voted for a resolution proposed by Bernie Sanders to apply the human rights provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act to US aid to Israel's military.

In May 2017, Mazie Hirono was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer, which had spread to her seventh rib.

Mazie Hirono returned to the Senate on May 22,2017.

Also in 2021, it was announced that Mazie Hirono would receive Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star for her "significant contributions in strengthening bilateral relations and promoting legislative exchanges between Japan and the United States".