EMILYs List Congratulates Sen. Mazie Hirono on Her Reelection to the United States Senate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, congratulates Sen. Mazie Hirono on her reelection to the United States Senate. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement:
“Sen. Hirono is a pro-choice champion who has consistently been on the frontlines for Hawaiians and we congratulate her on her reelection. She is passionate about fighting for women, seniors, veterans, and young people and we are confident that she will continue her great work in the U.S. Senate. Her voice in Congress is essential to protecting our reproductive freedoms and civil rights for all. We look forward to watching her continued efforts for Hawaiians and all Americans.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono was born in Fukushima, Japan and is the only immigrant currently serving in the U.S. Senate. After spending the first few years of her life living on her grandparents’ rice farm, she moved to the United States when she was nearly eight years old. Hirono started elementary school in Hawaii before she could read or speak English. After graduating from high school, Hirono worked her way through college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and law school at Georgetown, moving back to Hawaii after finishing her degrees to work as an attorney. In 1980, she successfully ran for a seat in the Hawai‘i House of Representatives, where she served until 1994. After completing her term, she ran for Hawaii lieutenant governor, won, and served until 2002. In 2006, Hirono was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after winning a highly-contested, 10-way primary for the Democratic nomination with the support of EMILYs List. In 2012, Hirono ran for the U.S. Senate and won, becoming the first woman ever to represent her home state in the Senate and the first Asian American woman ever to serve in that chamber.
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Our work is centered around a fundamental vision: Run. Win. Change the World. EMILYs List has raised $850 million in service to that vision and has helped Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the largest independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.
