About Colleen Hanabusa
A Hawaiian history-maker
Colleen Hanabusa has risen quickly through the ranks of Hawaiian politics and made a name for herself as a woman to watch in the Aloha State. Hanabusa was first elected to the Hawaii state Senate in 1998 and her leadership attracted attention from EMILY’s List’s Political Opportunity Program. From 2003-2007, she served as the Senate majority leader, before being elected the first woman president of the Senate – making her the first Asian American woman to preside over a state legislative chamber in the United States. Widely viewed as a leader of uncompromising integrity and skill, 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, by Hawaii Business magazine. Hanabusa is poised to help Hawaii become the only state with more than one congressional district to have an all-female delegation in the U.S. House.
Championing progressive change
Hanabusa is a fourth-generation Hawaii resident whose great-grandparents immigrated to the island. A passionate progressive leader, she’s the right candidate to represent Hawaii’s first congressional district in Washington. In office, Hanabusa has not hesitated to take strong stands to protect the rights of working families, children, women, and native Hawaiians. She has fought for legislation to require insurance companies to cover birth control, to guarantee access to emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault, protect the rights of workers to organize, and to secure funding for schools to strengthen infrastructure and meet the needs of disabled students. Hanabusa has the legislative know-how and experience to hit the ground running when she reaches Washington.
An upcoming special election battle
Hanabusa announced her bid for the open seat of outgoing Rep. Neil Abercrombie last year, but his decision to retire early triggered a special election scheduled to take place on May 22. The state's election rules will pit all three candidates against each other in one winner-take-all vote. And, with two Democrats and one Republican on the ballot, a split of Democratic voters could put this left-leaning seat in the hands of the GOP, whose candidate, Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou has been hailed as "the next potential Scott Brown" because he could take a solidly Democratic House seat. The other Democrat on the ballot is well-funded, conservative former congressman Ed Case, who has been described as a "Democrat in name only." Hanabusa is the only true progressive running, and she's counting on EMILY's List to help her get her voters to the polls on election day.
