Citing her long government experience, former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa on Saturday formally announced her candidacy for Honolulu mayor.
City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi introduced Hanabusa at her newly minted campaign headquarters in Kalihi.
Hanabusa, 68, joins a
formidable field that includes businessman Keith Amemiya, former television executive Rick Blangiardi, former state Sen. John
Carroll, Realtor and activist Choon James and City Councilwoman Kym Pine.
None of those candidates, however, has Hanabusa’s
resume.
She served in Congress on two separate occasions, from 2011 to 2015 and then from 2016 to 2019. She then made an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Gov. David Ige, a fellow Democrat.
Prior to that, Hanabusa served in the state Senate representing the Waianae Coast from 1999 to 2010.
She was elected Senate president in 2009 and held that position until she left to go to Congress.
At the city level, Hanabusa was appointed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell in June 2015 to serve on the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. She was named chairwoman of the panel in April 2016 but resigned that October to run for Congress.
In an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser
after Saturday’s announcement, Hanabusa said addressing the lack of public confidence and trust in city officials is more important than any single issue facing City Hall today.
She pointed to a survey recently released by the Honolulu Office of the Auditor that shows historically low ratings when those polled were asked how their government was doing on a number of issues.
“Public confidence has got to be restored,” Hanabusa said. “And people have to know what they think matters and they have someone who is not only
listening to them, but taking it to heart … I think people are (asking) does government care? And does government work and can government do any of that?”
Hanabusa said the increase in crime, and particularly gun violence, is a troubling issue she’d like to address.
Despite her experience, she said she is not a political insider or a favorite of an influential political apparatus. If that were the case, “the machine would have made sure that I won all of these other elections as well,” she said. “I’ve had to fight for
every one.”
Hanabusa lost the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 2014 to Brian Schatz.
