Djou, Charles, 1970-

Charles Kong Djou (born August 9, 1970) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district from 2010 to 2011. He was the first Thai American of any party and the first Chinese American Republican to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Born in Los Angeles, Djou grew up in Hawaii after his father's employer transferred him there when Djou was three. He graduated from high school at Punahou School before earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating magna cum laude. He earned his J.D. degree at the USC Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. In 2001 Djou joined the United States Army Reserve and served in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, a light infantry division, from 2011 to 2012. Afterward, in his private career, Djou worked as an attorney for a small number of firms in Hawaii. In 1998 Djou waged an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in Hawaii’s state house of representatives. But two years later, he ran again and won, serving the Kahaluu and Kaneohe areas on Oahu’s east coast. After redistricting erased his seat, Djou ran successfully for a seat on the Honolulu city council.

In March 2008, Djou announced well ahead of time that he would run for U.S. Congress in the 2010 cycle, seeking Hawaii's 1st congressional district seat. After incumbent Neil Abercrombie resigned to run for Governor of Hawaii, Djou entered the special election to succeed him. With Democrats Colleen Hanabusa and Ed Case splitting the progressive and centrist Democratic vote, Djou won election with less than 40 percent of the vote. Entering the House in late May during an election year left Djou with little time to legislate. He introduced his first bill (H.R. 5720) on July 13, 2010, and offered his final bill of the 111th Congress only a month later, just before Congress recessed for the summer. In total, Djou introduced 12 resolutions during the 111th Congress, including two bills to rename post offices in Honolulu; the FACT Act (H.R. 5857), which would have lowered corporate income tax; the Family Reunification Act of 2010 (H.R. 5880), which would have amended certain immigration requirements; and the Citizenship and Service Act of 2010 (H.R. 6327), which would have enabled undocumented young people to become “conditional permanent” U.S. residents if they met certain educational qualifications. Djou also broke from his party on a handful of hot-button issues. He was one of only five Republicans to vote for the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and later was one of only eight Republicans to vote for an immigration overhaul. In a November 2010 rematch with Hanabusa, Djou lost by seven points.

After leaving the House, Djou returned to Hawaii. In 2012 he won the Republican nomination for his old seat, but lost in the general election. He ran again in 2014, but lost in the GOP primary. In June 2016, Djou entered a three-way race for mayor of Honolulu against the incumbent Kirk Caldwell and the city’s previous mayor Peter Carlisle. In a close campaign, Djou came in second to Caldwell, but since neither candidate received a majority of the votes, the election headed to a runoff. Djou ended up losing the runoff later that November. He left the Republican Party in March 2018.