Kahele, Kaialiʻi, 1974-

KAHELE, Kaialiʻi, a Representative from Hawaii; born in Hawaii County, Hawaii, March 28, 1974; graduated from Hilo High School, Hilo, Hawaii, 1992; attended Hawaii Community College, Hilo, Hawaii; attended University of Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaii; B.S., University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, 1998; attended Air Command and Staff College, Montgomery, Ala.; Hawaii Air National Guard, 1999–present; commercial pilot; adjunct faculty member, University of Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaii; nonprofit executive; member of the Hawaii state senate, 2016–2020, majority whip, 2017–2018, majority floor leader, 2018–2020; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Seventeenth Congress (January 3, 2021–present).

<p>U.S. Representative Kaialiʻi (Kai) Kahele is serving his first term in Congress. He represents Hawaiʻi’s 2nd Congressional District, encompassing the islands of Hawaiʻi, Maui, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kauaʻi, Niʻihau and the rural parts of Oʻahu, including Waimanālo, Kailua, Kāneʻohe, the North Shore, and Leeward coast.</p>

<p>Congressman Kahele serves on two House committees, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, one of the largest committees in Congress that has jurisdiction over all modes of transportation, and the Armed Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. defense policy, including ongoing military operations.</p>

<p>Congressman Kahele is a combat veteran, pilot and a commissioned officer in the Hawai‘i Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force where he continues to serve as a lieutenant colonel at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaiʻi. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules pilot in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.</p>

<p>Kaialiʻi Kahele (born March 28, 1974) is an American politician, educator, and commercial pilot serving as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district since 2021. From 2016 to 2020, he served in the Hawaii Senate from the 1st district. Kahele is a member of the Democratic Party and the son of Hawaii Senate member Gil Kahele.</p>

<p>In January 2019, Kahele announced he would challenge Tulsi Gabbard in Hawaii's 2nd congressional district in 2020, however Gabbard dropped out of the race to focus on her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Kahele won the Democratic nomination on August 8, 2020. He won the general election, and became the second Native Hawaiian to serve as a voting member of Congress since Hawaii achieved statehood.</p>

<p>Kahele is a Native Hawaiian whose family comes from the small fishing village of Miloliʻi in South Kona, where he was born on March 28, 1974. He graduated from Hilo High School and attended Hawaiʻi Community College and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo before earning a Bachelor of Arts in education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1998.</p>