Washington DC (Washington Insider Magazine) — Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and politician. She served as the junior United States senator from Hawaii since 2013. Hirono was also a member of the Democratic Party and previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives as well. She participated in Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013.
Hirono was also a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives and served her tenure from 1981 to 1995. She was Hawaii’s ninth lieutenant governor and served from 1994 to 2002, under Ben Cayetano. Mazie was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for governor of Hawaii in 2002 and was defeated by Republican Linda Lingle in the general election.
Biography
Mazie Keiko Hirano was born on November 3rd in 1947. She is a famous lawyer in America, but she doesn’t belong to America. She was born in Koori, located in Fukushima, Japan. However, Hirono is a Japanese-born American woman and has been recognized for her work as a politician. she served for a significant number of years.
Since her childhood, Hirono was raised in Honolulu and she lived with her family in Japan. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959. Her mother is an American citizen. Mazie’s father was an alcoholic and a gambler and the family struggled a lot due to his acts.
Her father often stole her wife’s possessions and sold them off for gambling money. Hirono and her family struggled financially during her childhood days. There is no information shared about her siblings and other family members.
Hirono was a great student since her childhood. She went to Kaahumanu elementary and completed her early education from them. She later enrolled herself in higher education and earned her high school degree from Kaimuki high school.
She earned her graduation and post-graduate degrees from Hawaii University. Mazie had a high spirit since her childhood and she always wanted to become successful. She is a successful politician in America despite being originally from Japan.
Political Career
Hirono was first elected as the female senator from Hawaii. She is the first Asian-American woman who was elected to the Senate in the USA. Hirono is the first U.S. senator born in Japan and earned a seat in the American political scene.
She is also the nation’s first Buddhist senator who doesn’t follow Christianity. Mazie considers herself a non-practicing Buddhist. However, she is often cited with Hank Johnson who was the first Buddhist to serve in the United States Congress.
Mazie did not struggle much to earn prominence in the Senate because she was elected easily due to her smart explicit work and smartness. Mazie K holds several seats and has served many years in the American Senate already. She was the youngest US senator who has held a lot of different seats in the US Senate.
She was the first female senator from Hawaii that got elected to Congress from Hawaii. In 2012, Hirono won the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by the retirement of Daniel Akaka. After the retirement of some prominent democratic nominees, Mazie K earned more prominence and this made it easy for her to win seats.
With a lot of successful efforts, Hirono won the election. She went on to defeat Lingle in a landslide by getting around 63% to 37% votes. The voters were on her side because she made convincing efforts to side with her. Hirono is an inspiration to aspiring young politicians who want to earn a place in the political scene.
Mazie K was sworn in on January 3, 2013, by Vice President Joe Biden. She is the only person of Asian ancestry that has served the U.S. Senate from 2013 until 2017 and this itself is an achievement. Her continuous seats in the Senate prove how competent she is and how hard she has worked so far to achieve success.
When senators Tammy Duckworth and Kamala Harris were sworn in, they represented Illinois and California along with Mazie respectively. She worked with Kamala Harris and Tammy Duckworth and transformed a lot of policies in the favor of the people
Although Brian Schatz is Hawaii’s senior senator but Mazie still has a lot of importance in the Senate. Brian was appointed a week before Hirono, after the death of Daniel Inouye. Hirono has served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and earned the seat of dean. She is the longest-serving member overall, in Hawaii’s congressional delegation.
Personal life
In May 2017, Hirono revealed that she has been diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer. Cancer had spread to her seventh rib at that time she found out. Cancer got discovered in the chest X-ray in April before she underwent minor eye surgery. After struggling with a deadly disease like Cancer Hirono came back to the political scene and earned more success in the past few years. she survived the disease and got back on her feet once again with an effective treatment for Cancer. Hirono got married to Leighton Kim Oshima in 1989 and the couple and have been together for many years now.
Hirono’s right kidney got removed on May 17, 2017. The Cyberknife procedure was used to operate the rib lesion. She returned to the Senate on May 22, 2017, and got reelected to a second term in 2018. In 2021, it was announced that Hirono will be receiving Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. She earned this honor due to her “significant contributions in strengthening bilateral relations and promoting legislative exchanges between Japan and the nation of America.
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Net Worth
Mazie K Hirono’s net worth is $4.3 million. Her political career has strengthened her net worth as she has been serving in the Senate for decades now. She is the only Asian American woman elected by the Us Senate multiple times over the years. Hirono estimated net worth will increase in a couple of years as she receives a handsome money of salary.