Former Hawaii congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa dies at 74

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa has died after a private battle with cancer. She was 74.

Her family said in a statement:

“Colleen Hanabusa, a veteran lawmaker and attorney from Waianae who fought for local people for three decades as a Congresswoman and state Senate President, passed away early Friday.

“Hanabusa, the first Asian American woman elected as president of a state legislative body, was hospitalized for five months fighting cancer.

“The veteran member of the U.S. House of Representatives, state Senate, and HART board is survived by her husband, John Souza, and their beloved puppies Frannie and Pupper.”

Hanabusa was born in 1951 and raised in Waianae. She was elected to the Hawaii State Senate in 1998 and became the state’s first female Senate president in 2007.

MORE: Hawaii lawmakers remember late colleague Colleen Hanabusa

A career defined by political battles

Within months of her 1998 state Senate election, Hanabusa demanded a recount of the gubernatorial race that Ben Cayetano narrowly won over Linda Lingle.

She later organized the Senate’s ouster of Cayetano’s Attorney General Margery Bronster after Bronster forced out the politically connected trustees of the Bishop Estate.

She was elected to Congress in 2010.

In 2012, as U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye was dying, he asked Gov. Neil Abercrombie to appoint Hanabusa to his seat. Abercrombie instead chose his lieutenant governor, Brian Schatz.

“I think it was one of the more momentous moments in Hawaii politics,” said Colin Moore, a political science professor and HNN political analyst. “It really was in some ways a rejection of the Inouye era.”

Hanabusa lost her 2014 bid to take the Senate seat from Schatz.

She returned to Congress in 2016 following the death of U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, where she championed the Honolulu rail system.

From Congress to the campaign trail

Moore said Hanabusa’s political strength was more internal than public-facing.

“Her power was often more as an inside strategist than a public communicator,” Moore said.

With labor union support, Hanabusa gave up her congressional seat in 2018 to challenge Gov. David Ige in the Democratic primary.

“At the highest level of state government today, there is a deeply troubling lack of leadership and vision,” Hanabusa said when she announced her gubernatorial campaign.

Former Gov. Cayetano, despite prior differences with Hanabusa, endorsed her. Despite early leads in the polls, she lost in the primary.

Rail, mayor’s race, and HART

Hanabusa later became chair of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and was critical of rail management.

In 2020, she ran for Honolulu mayor, finishing third in the primary. She endorsed eventual winner Rick Blangiardi, who returned her to the HART board.

As chair, Hanabusa helped salvage the federal funding agreement for the rail project. In 2023, she rode the rail system she had long fought for.

“We’re able to put our differences aside for one specific purpose, and that is rail, the completion of rail,” Hanabusa said.

Hanabusa left the HART board for health reasons last September.

Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.