Prime Minister of Hawaii

The **Prime Minister of Hawaii** (Hawaiian: *Ke Kuhina Nui o Hawaiʻi*) is the head of government of Hawaii and the most powerful person in Hawaiian politics. The traditional residence of the Prime Minister is the Prime Minister's Mansion in Honolulu. However, Prime Ministers are not legally required to reside her, and simply do so because of tradition.

As of 2019, the Prime Minister of Hawaii is Kenzie Kanazawa, of the Hawaiian National Party. Kanazawa is the third woman to serve in the position.

## Role

The Prime Minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department heads) are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the monarch, to the National Assembly, to their political party, and ultimately the electorate. In practice, since it is nearly impossible for a government to stay in office against the will of the National Assembly, the prime minister is primarily answerable to the National Assembly. He or she is almost always the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly, or the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition.

The position of prime minister is the result of legislation. Modern prime ministers have few statutory powers, but provided they can command the support of their parliamentary party, they can control both the legislature and the executive (the cabinet) and hence wield considerable de facto powers.

## Eligibility

In order to become Prime Minister of Hawaii, individuals must:

* Be a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii through birth or naturalization. If through naturalization, they must have held citizenship for at least 15 years prior to taking office.
* Be at least 30 years of age at the time they take office.
* Be a lawful resident of the Kingdom of Hawaii for at least 15 years prior to taking office, at least ten of which must be consecutive.

Individuals seeking to become Prime Minister of Hawaii cannot:

* Have been convicted of a felony or more than one misdemeanor. They additionally cannot have been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison.
* Have held office in a foreign nation, whether it be through appointment or election.
* Have served in the armed forces of a foreign nation.

## List of Prime Ministers

     *Hawaiian National Party*      *Socialist Party*      *Liberal-Conservative Party*

### Living former Prime Ministers

As of 2019, four former Prime Ministers are alive.

**Elizabeth Wu Danielson**
born  (1932-12-17) 17 December 1932 (age 91)
served 1975—1980**Harry Chung**
born  (1932-02-01) 1 February 1932 (age 91)
served 1992—1995**Helen Takahashi**
born  (1951-07-12) 12 July 1951 (age 72)
served 1995—2010**Donald Chao**
born  (1942-01-30) 30 January 1942 (age 81)
served 2010—2015
### Historical firsts

* Marco Chaves became the first Asian-Hawaiian Prime Minister after being appointed to replace the resigning Johnson Haggerty in 1963. He was a Filipino-Hawaiian. There has since been five further Prime Ministers of Asian origin: Elizabeth Wu Danielson (Chinese-Hawaiian), Harry Chung (Taiwanese-Hawaiian), Helen Takahashi (Japanese-Hawaiian), Donald Chao (Taiwanese-Hawaiian), and Kenzie Kanazawa (Japanese-Hawaiian).
* Upon his appointment in 1963, Chao also became the first Roman Catholic Prime Minister. No other Prime Ministers have been Catholic.
* Elizabeth Wu Danielson became the first female Prime Minister after being elected in the 1975 election. There has since been two further female Prime Ministers: Helen Takahashi and Kenzie Kanazawa.
* Helen Takahashi became the first Native Hawaiian and multiracial Prime Minister after being elected in the 1995 election. She is half Native Hawaiian and half Japanese. There have been no other Prime Ministers of Native Hawaiian origin, while there has been one further multiracial Prime Minister: Kenzie Kanazawa (3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Irish).