Kirk William Caldwell (born September 4, 1952) is an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who served as the mayor of

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 ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, from 2013 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Caldwell also held the position of acting mayor in 2010 following the resignation of Mayor

Mufi Hannemann Muliufi Francis Hannemann (born July 16, 1954) is an American politician, businessman, and non-profit executive. He was elected twice as Mayor of Honolulu in 2004 and 2008. Hannemann has served as a special assistant in Washington, D.C., with t ...

. Caldwell announced that he would be running for the Democratic nomination in the

2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election The 2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election will take place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Hawaii. Incumbent Democratic Governor David Ige is term-limited and therefore ineligible to run for a third term. Democratic primary Govern ...

in September 2021, but withdrew the following May.

Career

Caldwell represented the 24th Representative District in the

Hawaii State House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consis ...

of the Hawaii State Legislature from 2002 to 2008, serving as the

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

between 2007 and 2008. He left the race for reelection to the House of Representatives to run for City Council in Honolulu. Caldwell was unable to run for council as he had not formally withdrawn from the election for the House of Representatives. On July 20, 2010, Caldwell assumed the position of interim mayor after

resigned to compete in the

2010 Hawaii gubernatorial election The 2010 Hawaii gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010, to elect the next Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. Incumbent Republican Governor Linda Lingle was term-limited and not eligible to run for re-election. The Democrat ...

. Caldwell held the office of mayor until a special election was held to determine a permanent successor. Caldwell served as the acting mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii's capital and largest city, during the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

evacuation in the absence of Mayor Hannemann following the

2010 Chile earthquake The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami ( es, Terremoto del 27F) occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking l ...

. Caldwell lost to former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle in the 2010 special mayoral election. Caldwell ran a successful campaign in the 2012 Honolulu mayoral election. He finished second in the primary election, ahead of incumbent mayor Carlisle. He faced former Hawaii Governor

Ben Cayetano Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) is an American politician and author who served as the fifth governor of the State of Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United State ...

in the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

on November 6, 2012, and won the election by 7.8%. Caldwell narrowly won reelection on November 8, 2016, after facing a runoff with former Republican congressman Charles Djou, 52.2% to 47.8%. Though both candidates supported the municipal rail project, cost overruns were an issue, as well as Caldwell's alleged interference with the Ethics Commission. Labor group support was split between the pair. In June 2018, Caldwell responded to an increasing homeless population by having legislation crafted to outlaw living in parks, sleeping and resting on sidewalks, and obstructing sidewalks with personal possessions, combined with aggressive referrals to shelters. The city had made similar efforts that resulted in a win for homeless advocates at the cost of a half million dollars. An April 2021 poll conducted by

Hawaii News Now ''Hawaii News Now'' (also abbreviated as ''HNN'') is a news department shared by three television stations in Honolulu, Hawaii: CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5), NBC affiliate KHNL (channel 13), and Telemundo affiliate KFVE (channel 6). The new ...

found that only 28% of Hawaii voters held a positive opinion of Caldwell, while 53% held a negative opinion. On September 10, 2021, Caldwell announced that he would be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for

Governor of Hawaii The governor of Hawaii ( haw, Ke Kiaʻaina o Hawaiʻi) is the head of government of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a direct ...

in the

to succeed Gov.

David Ige David Yutaka Ige (; born January 15, 1957) is an American politician and engineer who served as the eighth governor of Hawaii from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he served in the Hawaii State Senate from 1995 to 2014 and the Hawaii House of Repres ...

. He withdrew from the gubernatorial election on May 4, 2022, citing both a lack of funding for his campaign and insufficient political momentum.

Personal

His wife, Donna Tanoue, was chairwoman of the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...

from 1998 to 2001. They have one child, a daughter named Maya.

References

External links

Campaign website
(archived May 2020) , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Kirk 1952 births 21st-century American politicians Hawaii lawyers Living people Mayors of Honolulu Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives