Donna Mercado Kim is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician from Hawaii. She is a state senator from Senate District 14 and was President of the Hawaiʻi Senate for almost three years.

Education

Kim attended, and graduated from

Farrington High School Governor Wallace Rider Farrington High School is a public grades 9–12 high school located in the Kalihi district of Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, United States. The school is named after the late Wallace Rider Farrington, the sixth g ...

, in Kalihi-Palama,

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. Kim is a graduate of

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

, although she also attended the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Manoa, Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It ...

Political career

From 1982 to 1984, Kim was a member of the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives. From 1986 to 2000, Kim served on the

Honolulu City Council Honolulu City Council is the legislature of the City and County of Honolulu, the capital and largest city in Hawai'i, the fiftieth state in the United States. The City and County of Honolulu is a municipal corporation that manages government asp ...

. Elected to the Senate in 2000, Kim has chaired the Committee on Tourism, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Special Committee on Accountability, and the Task Force on Reinventing Government. From 2003 to 2008 and again from 2011 to 2013, Kim served as Vice President of the Senate. In 2013, Kim became President of the Hawaiʻi Senate, replacing

Shan Tsutsui Shan S. Tsutsui (born August 9, 1971) is an American politician who was the 12th lieutenant governor of Hawaii from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously a member of the Hawaii Senate from 2003 to 2012, and he served ...

who left the position to become

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. Kim's tenure as President of the Senate ended in 2015. In 2014, Kim ran for congress to fill the vacated seat of U.S. Rep.

Colleen Hanabusa Colleen Wakako Hanabusa ( ja, 花房若子; born May 4, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for her party's ...

. She lost the race to

Mark Takai Kyle Mark Takai (July 1, 1967 – July 20, 2016) was an American politician from the state of Hawaii who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing , from 2015 to 2016. He served in the Hawaii House of Representatives ...

. In 2018, Kim once again ran for 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Congresswoman

, as she was running for governor, but lost to former congressman

Ed Case Edward Espenett Case (born September 27, 1952) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician serving as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district, which covers the urban core of Honolulu. He represented the 2nd distric ...

Personal

Kim was born in

. Her father is Korean, while her mother is Spanish-

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

-Portuguese.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Donna Mercado American politicians of Filipino descent Women state legislators in Hawaii Hawaii politicians of Filipino descent Democratic Party Hawaii state senators Honolulu City Council members Living people Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives Presidents of the Hawaii Senate Women city councillors in Hawaii 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 1952 births Candidates in the 2014 United States elections Candidates in the 2018 United States elections American politicians of Korean descent American people of Spanish descent American people of Portuguese descent Asian-American city council members Asian-American people in Hawaii politics