Mazie Hirono

Mazie Hirono (born November 3, 1947, near Fukushima city, Japan) is a Japanese-born American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and began representing Hawaii the following year. She was the first Asian immigrant and the first Buddhist to serve in the Senate and the first woman to represent Hawaii in that legislative body. Hirono previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (2007–13). In 2024 she comfortably won reelection over her Republican opponent Bob McDermott.

Hirono was born in a village near Fukushima city, Japan, to a Japanese American mother and a Japanese father whose marriage later dissolved. Mazie and her brother Roy moved with their mother to her native Honolulu in 1955. Mazie earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Hawaii in 1970 and, after working for a few years, received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1978. She then returned to Honolulu and worked for the state government in antitrust litigation before being recruited to run for the Hawaii House of Representatives in 1980. She won the election and took office the following year. She served until 1994, when she ran for and won the post of lieutenant governor.

In 2002 Hirono was defeated for the governorship by Republican Linda Lingle. Four years later Hirono won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and she served three terms. In 2012 she ran for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Sen. Daniel Akaka. She defeated Lingle in the general election and assumed office in 2013. She easily won reelection in 2018, and earned a reputation as a determined critic of the policies of Pres. Donald Trump. A liberal Democrat, Hirono typically voted with her party’s leadership. She also sponsored numerous bills related to education and took a strong pro-choice position on abortion.

Hirono married Leighton Kim Oshima, who had a child from a previous marriage.