“That makes a difference when you have all these Asian faces running then getting elected. You have some 30 people, many of them Democrats, running for Congress. When the community sees the other faces who look like them can run and win, I think it encourages them.”

American lawyer and politician

Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and Democratic politician. Since 2013, she has served as the junior United States senator from Hawaii. Born in Japan, she built a long career in Hawaii politics before entering the Senate. Hirono previously represented Hawaii's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House from 2007 to 2013. Before that, she served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1981 to 1994 and as the state's tenth lieutenant governor from 1994 to 2002. In 2002, she was the Democratic nominee for governor of Hawaii, but lost the race to Linda Lingle.