Blake Oshiro (born January 16, 1970) is an American politician and lawyer. In December 2022, he was appointed by

Governor of Hawaii The governor of Hawaii () 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 directly elected position, votes bei ...

Josh Green as his senior advisor. From 2011 to 2014, he served as deputy chief of staff to Hawaii Gov.

Neil Abercrombie Neil Abercrombie (born June 26, 1938) is an American politician who served as the seventh governor of Hawaii from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Born in Buffalo, New York, Abercrombie is a ...

. Oshiro previously served as Majority Leader of the

Hawaii 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 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention, 1978 constit ...

, where he represented District 33, comprising the

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

neighborhoods of Aiea and

Halawa Hālawa () is a census-designated place (CDP) in the ‘Ewa District of Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. Hālawa Stream branches into two valleys: North and South Hālawa; North Hālawa is the larger stream and fluvial feature. Their c ...

. He spent ten years in the legislature. In 2011, Oshiro completed Harvard University's

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a

David Bohnett Foundation The David Bohnett Foundation is a private foundation that gives grants to organizations that focus on its core giving areas – primarily Los Angeles area programs and LGBT rights in the United States, as well as leadership initiatives and voter e ...

LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow. Oshiro was first elected to the House in 2000 and took office the following January. He subsequently won re-election at two-year intervals. Oshiro came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

in 2010 during the debate over Hawaii House Bill 444, which granted

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

rights to

same-sex couples A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...

in Hawaii. He subsequently faced a socially conservative primary challenger in his 2010 race for reelection, Honolulu City Councilman Gary Okino. Oshiro defeated Okino by 56 percent to 44%. In the general election held on November 2, 2010, Oshiro was reelected over Republican opponent Sam Kong by a margin of 54.5% to 45.5%. In November 2011, Oshiro announced that he would resign from the legislature in order to become Neil Abercrombie's deputy chief of staff. His resignation became effective December 7, 2011. Per Hawaii law, Governor Abercrombie had to select Oshiro's successor as state representative from the 33rd district. He chose former state representative and majority leader Tom Okamura, who Oshiro had succeeded in January 2001. Due to poor health, Okamura had to resign just weeks after accepting the appointment. Abercrombie appointed Heather Giugni, a Native Hawaiian filmmaker, to the seat in February 2012. After Abercrombie left office at the end of 2014, Oshiro returned to the private sector as a lawyer with Honolulu law firm Alston Hunt Floyd.

References

1970 births Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives LGBTQ state legislators in Hawaii Living people American gay politicians Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent Hawaii people of Okinawan descent American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American politicians of Ryukyuan descent 21st-century American LGBTQ people Asian American and Pacific Islander state legislators in Hawaii 21st-century members of the Hawaii State Legislature 21st-century American politicians of Asian descent {{Hawaii-politician-stub