Mazie Hirono : Net Worth, Family, Husband, Education, Children, Age, Biography and Political Career

Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior us Senator from Hawaii since 2013. She may be a member of the Democratic Party . Hirono served as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1981 to 1995 and as Hawaiis ninth elected official from 1994 to 2002, under Ben Cayetano. The Democratic nominee for governor of Hawaii in 2002, Hirono was defeated by Republican Linda Lingle. From 2007 to 2013, she served as a member of the us House of Representatives for Hawaiis 2nd district.

Hirono is that the first elected female senator from Hawaii, the primary Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, the primary U.S. senator born in Japan, and therefore the nations first Buddhist senator. She considers herself a non-practicing Buddhist and is usually cited with Hank Johnson because the first Buddhist to serve within the us Congress. She is additionally the third woman to be elected to Congress from Hawaii (after Patsy Mink and Pat Saiki).

In 2012, Hirono was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Daniel Akaka. Hirono won the election, defeating Lingle during a landslide, 63% to 37%. She was sworn in on January 3, 2013, by vice chairman Joe Biden. Hirono was the sole person of Asian ancestry serving within the U.S. Senate from 2013 until 2017, when senators Tammy Duckworth and Kamala Harris were sworn in, representing Illinois and California, respectively. Although Brian Schatz joined the Senate every week before Hirono, following the death of Daniel Inouye, making him Hawaiis senior senator, Hironos three terms within the U.S. House of Representatives make her the dean, or longest-serving member overall, of Hawaiis congressional delegation.

Hirono announced in May 2017 that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer, which had spread to her seventh rib. The cancer was discovered during a chest X-ray in April before minor eye surgery. Hironos right kidney was removed on May 17, 2017, with a Cyberknife procedure to treat the rib lesion. She returned to the Senate on May 22, 2017, and was reelected to a second term in 2018.

In 2021, Viking Press published Hironos autobiography, Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughters Story. Marie Claire listed the book among its "25 Great Memoirs to Pre-Order Now".

Mazie Hirono Net Worth

Mazie Hirono Net Worth is $3 million in 2021.

Mazie Hirono Family

Mazie Hirono was born on November 3, 1947, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan to Laura Chie Satō, a Japanese American, and Hirono Matabe, a Japanese veteran of war II. Mazies maternal grandfather, Hiroshi Satō, immigrated to Hawaii to figure on a sugar plantation at the age of 16, her grandmother, Tari Shinoki, immigrated to Hawaii as an image bride. After finding plantation work difficult, the couple opened a bathhouse on River Street in Honolulu in 1928. The couple had a daughter, Laura Chie, in 1924, and a son, Akira.

In 1939, Tari returned to Japan with the teenaged Laura and Akira; Hiroshi remained in Hawaii to run the bathhouse for 2 more years before joining his family in 1941. Laura felt out of place in Japan together of the various Nisei Japanese Americans who emigrated with their returning Issei parents (barred from US citizenship or land ownership) before war II and through the good Depression. But although her brother returned to Hawaii after the war, she remained in Japan and married a veterinarian, Hirono Matabe, in 1946. Laura moved together with her husband to southern Fukushima, and had three children, Roy, Mazie, and Wayne. Mazie, the center child, was the sole surviving daughter.

Mazies father, Matabe, was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic who pawned even his wifes possessions for gambling money. Treated "like a slave" by her in-laws, Mazie’s mother finally left the abusive marriage in 1951. Laura later recounted her point of decision: "My brother sent money to shop for a faculty uniform for my son. My husband took the cash , visited town and never came back home. it had been getting closer to the beginning of faculty , so I visited search for him. I acknowledged he had ordered an overcoat for himself with the cash . He didnt need an overcoat within the spring. Thats once I made up my mind to go away ." After telling her in-laws she was getting to take her children to high school in her hometown, Laura left the house, never to return. Selling her clothes to pay the rail fare, she and therefore the children moved back to her parents home. Laura said, "My husband never came over once; my parents were supportive and took all folks in. My mother gave us money. i assume it all boils right down to love."

The Satō-Hirono family decided to return to Hawaii, but under the U.S. quota system Tari and Hiroshi, as Japanese nationals without American citizenship or professional status, couldnt accompany Laura, an American citizen. Thus the family was separated, with three-year-old Wayne staying behind together with his grandparents and Laura returning to Honolulu on her own with Mazie and Roy in March 1955. After two years of diligence , she brought her parents and youngest son to Hawaii in 1957. "She determined that she had to urge away [from her husband]...she wanted to place thousands of miles between them", Hirono said of her mother. "That took tons of courage. I always tell my mom theres nothing I can do—hard because it is to be in politics...harder than what she did."

After first living with Mazies uncle Akira, the family moved into a lodging house on Kewalo Street in Honolulu with one room, one table, three chairs and one bed. Laura recalled, "Mazie and Roy slept on the bed. I slept on the ground with a futon. The landlady was so nice. The rent was $35, but she charged us less because I did not have employment ." Laura began working for the Hawaii Hochi as a typesetter and also three nights every week for a catering company. Mazie worked within the school cafeteria and had a paper route. Though money was tight and therefore the family was forced to maneuver often, Laura kept them together. Mazie recalled that she and her brother wont to get a dime once or twice every week from their mother. "We both had baseball piggy banks. My older brother spent all his dimes but I saved mine. But at some point I came home and therefore the dimes were gone. My mother had to use it to shop for food."

Hirono never saw her father again, and he has since died. Laura became a newspaper proofreader in 1961 and retired from the Hawaii Newspaper Agency in 1986; Roy became a Hawaiian Electric supervisor. Wayne drowned in 1978, aged 26. Mazie’s grandfather Hiroshi died in 1989, and her grandmother Tari died in 2000 at age 99.

Raised in Honolulu, Hirono became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959, the year Hawaii became a state. She attended Kaʻahumanu Elementary and Koko Head Elementary Schools. She graduated from Kaimuki highschool , which at the time of her attendance had a predominantly Japanese American student body. Hirono then enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in psychology in 1970. She left Hawaii to attend Georgetown University Law Center, where she obtained her J.D. degree in 1978. Hirono then returned to Honolulu, where she practiced law.

Mazie Hirono Career and Achievement

Hawaii House of Representatives (1981–1994)

Elections

In 1980 Hirono was elected to Hawaiis 12th House district during a multi-member district with Democratic State Representative David Hagino. Hawaii eliminated multi-member districts, and after redistricting she ran for Hawaiis 20th House district and won. After redistricting again in 1984, she ran for the newly redrawn Hawaiis 32nd House district and won. In 1992, after redistricting, she ran within the newly redrawn Hawaiis 22nd House district. She won the three-candidate Democratic primary with 91% of the vote. She won the overall election and served just one term within the 22nd district before retiring in 1994 to run statewide office.

Tenure

From 1980 to 1994 Hirono served within the Hawaii House of Representatives, passing quite 120 laws. She was honored by a coalition of leaseholders as Legislator of the Year in 1984.

Committee Assignments

From 1987 to 1992 she was Chair of the buyer Protection and Commerce Committee.

Lieutenant Governor (1994–2002)

Elections

1994

Hirono ran for elected official of Hawaii and won the Democratic primary, defeating fellow State Representative Jackie Young 65%–26%. within the election she defeated three other candidates: Danny Kaniela Kaleikini (Best Party), State Representative Fred Hemmings (Republican Party), and Jack Morse (Green Party), 37%–31%–29%–4%.

1998

Hirono ran for reelection in 1998. She was challenged within the primary by Nancy L. Cook and defeated her, 89%–11%. within the election Hirono defeated Republican senator Stan Koki 50%–49%, a difference of 5,254 votes.

Tenure

In 1994 Hirono joined the ticket of incumbent elected official Benjamin J. Cayetano and was elected to a historic administration led by the primary Filipino American governor and first Japanese immigrant elected official . During her tenure as elected official , she was president of the National Commission on Teaching, Americas Future, and therefore the Hawaii Policy Group. She also spearheaded the first-in-the-nation comprehensive Pre-Plus program, a precursor to universal preschool education within the us.

2002 Gubernatorial Election

Hirono originally wanted to run mayor of Honolulu during a potential 2002 special election created by the vacancy of incumbent Mayor Jeremy Harris, who was getting to resign so as to run governor of Hawaii. But thanks to internal controversies, Harris dropped out of the gubernatorial election and remained mayor for an additional two years. Hirono switched races.

Hirono maneuvered to realize the support of potential Harris voters in her challenge against former State House legislator Ed Case. Throughout the first campaign, Hirono and Case polled almost equally. Hirono defeated Case within the September 21 Democratic primary, 41%–40%, a difference of two ,613 votes.

A few weeks later, Republican nominee and Mayor of Maui Linda Lingle defeated Hirono 52–47%, becoming Hawaiis first female governor.

U.S. House of Representatives (2007–2013)

Elections

2006

On September 23, Hirono ran for Hawaiis 2nd district being vacated by incumbent Ed Case. The Democratic primary was very competitive. there have been ten candidates, seven of whom served within the Hawaii Legislature. Hironos advantage was that she was the sole candidate who had held statewide office and as a result had the foremost name recognition. She also raised the foremost money, mostly due to the endorsement of EMILYs List, and lent her own campaign $100,000. She won with a plurality of twenty-two of the vote. senator Colleen Hanabusa finished second with 21%, 845 votes in need of Hirono.

In the election Hirono defeated Republican senator Bob Hogue, 61%–39%.

2008

Hirono won reelection to a second term with 76% of the vote.

2010

Hirono won reelection to a 3rd term with 72% of the vote.

Tenure

In 2008 Hirono was named the national preschool advocacy organization Pre-K Nows "Pre-K Champion" for her efforts on behalf of pre-kindergarten legislation.

Hirono co-sponsored and signed the Prevention First Act of 2007. The act aimed to extend public access to contraception and government funding to support the utilization of contraception. It places a stress on informing and protecting women from unintended pregnancy. On May 4, 2011, Hirono voted against the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which might have prohibited federal health care programs from covering abortion costs, with exceptions for life-threatening cases.

In July 2011 Hirono voted for the Access to contraception Act, which mandates that pharmacies provide contraception to customers without undue delay. The ABP Act also ensures that customers seeking contraception can obtain it without being submitted to unwanted harassment or breaches in patient confidentiality. EMILYs List, a Democratic pro-choice action committee, pledged support to Hirono for her history of supporting contraceptive and abortion policies during her term. Its endorsement helped Hirono in her 2012 senatorial race, contributing $129,714 to her campaign.

U.S. Senate

Elections

2012

On May 19, 2011, Hirono announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat left open by Daniel Akaka, who was retiring at the top of his term in 2012. She won the Democratic primary on August 11, 2012. Hirono was endorsed together of Democracy for Americas Dean Dozen. The Republican nominee was former Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle. Hirono won the overall election on November 6, 2012, with 63% of the vote. She is that the first female senator from Hawaii, also because the first Asian-born immigrant to be elected to the U.S. Senate. She was a neighborhood of the primary completely non-Christian Congressional delegation from the state, which continued until the election of Mark Takai (an Episcopalian) in 2014 as Representative of Hawaiis 1st district.

In the 2012 campaign Hirono raised $5.2 million, with approximately 52% of that from large corporations. Lingle raised $5.5 million, with 74% from large corporations. Hirono spent $5 million and Lingle $4.8 million.

2018

On November 6, 2018, Hirono was reelected with 71.2% of the vote, defeating Republican Ron Curtis.

Tenure

On December 12, 2012, the Senate Democratic committee announced that Hirono would serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving her influence on matters starting from approving nominations of federal judges to setting criminal-justice policy.

During the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination hearings in September 2018, Hirono became an outspoken defender of Christine Blasey Ford after Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexual abuse, telling men to "shut up and intensify . Do the proper thing for a change."

In the wake of the 2021 storming of the us Capitol, Hirono involved the resignation of fellow senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for his or her opposition to certifying the 2020 presidential election body count. She also involved the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the us Constitution to be invoked to get rid of Donald Trump from office.