Glenn Satoru Wakai (born May 14, 1967) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the

Hawaii Senate The Hawaii State Senate ( Hawaiian: Ka ‘Aha Kenekoa) is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President ...

since November 2010 representing District 15. Wakai consecutively served in the

Hawaii State Legislature The Hawaii State Legislature ( Hawaiian: Ka ‘Aha‘ōlelo kau kānāwai o ka Moku‘āina o Hawai‘i) is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of Hawaii, consisting of the Hawaii State Senate (upper house with 25 senators) and t ...

where he served from 2002 until 2010 in 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 ...

District 31 seat.

Education

Wakai earned his

BAs Bas may refer to: People * Bas (name), a given name and a surname * Bas (rapper) (born 1987) Chemistry * Boron arsenide (BAs), a chemical compound * Barium sulfide (BaS), a chemical compound Other uses * ''bas'' (French for "low"), as in bas ...

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Political career

Wakai was unopposed for both the August 11, 2012 Democratic Primary, winning with 5,478 votes, and the November 6, 2012 General election. When Democratic Representative Nathan Suzuki retired and left the House District 31 seat open, Wakai won the September 21, 2002 Democratic Primary with 1,975 votes (49.8%), and won the November 5, 2002 General election with 4,393 votes (58.2%) against Republican nominee Brad Sakamoto. who had been redistricted from District 6. Wakai was unopposed for the September 18, 2004 Democratic Primary, winning with 3,056 votes, and won the November 2, 2004 General election with 4,841 votes (59.7%) against Republican nominee Kaipo Duncan. Wakai was unopposed for the September 26, 2006 Democratic Primary, winning with 3,986 votes, and won the November 7, 2006 General election with 5,024 votes (76.7%) against Yvonne Perry. Wakai was unopposed for both the September 20, 2008 Democratic Primary, winning with 3,141 votes, and the November 4, 2008 General election. When Democratic Senator

Norman Sakamoto Norman Sakamoto (born May 22, 1947) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate from 1996 to 2010. He represented Hawaii Senatorial District 15, comprising the communities of Aliamanu, Foster Village, Hala ...

ran for

Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii The lieutenant governor of Hawaii () is the assistant chief executive of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Article V, Sections 2 though 6 of the Constitution of Hawaii. Elected by popular suff ...

and left the Senate District 15 seat open, Wakai was unopposed for the September 18, 2010 Democratic Primary, winning with 5,848 votes, and won the November 2, 2010 General election with 7,753 votes (62.4%) against Republican nominee Ben Pascua. Glenn Wakai is President of non government organizatio
Reach Out Pacific
. In 2014, Wakai proposed SB3124 which attempted to establish ''

Aliivibrio fischeri ''Aliivibrio fischeri'' (formerly ''Vibrio fischeri'') is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium found globally in marine environments. This bacterium grows most effectively in water with a salt concentration at around 20g/L, and at temperatures ...

'' as the state microbe of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. This was opposing

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

James Tokioka James "Jimmy" Kunane Tokioka is an American politician and was a Democratic member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from November 2006 to January 2023, most recently representing District 16. He currently serves as the director ...

's bill from the previous year, HB 293 HD1, to establish '' Flavobacterium akiainvivens'' as the state microbe. Neither one succeeded. In 2017, legislation similar to the original 2013 ''F. akiainvivens'' bill was submitted in the Hawaii House of Representatives by

Isaac Choy Isaac William Choy is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the Hawaii House of Representatives representing District 23 from November 2012 to November 2018. Choy consecutively served from 2008 until 2012 in the District 24 ...

and in the

Brian Taniguchi Brian Tetsuji Taniguchi (born November 7, 1951, in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate from January 16, 2013, to January 16, 2023, representing District 10. Taniguchi served consecutive ...

References

External links

Official page
at the

Campaign site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakai, Glenn Place of birth missing (living people) 1967 births Living people American adoptees Japanese adoptees Japanese emigrants to the United States Democratic Party Hawaii state senators 21st-century members of the Hawaii State Legislature Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives People from Hawaii (island) USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent Asian American and Pacific Islander state legislators in Hawaii 21st-century American politicians of Asian descent