Charles Djou | |||||||||||
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Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission | |||||||||||
Assumed office May 2022 | |||||||||||
Preceded by | William Matz Jr. | ||||||||||
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Hawaii's 1st district | |||||||||||
In office May 22,2010 –January 3,2011 | |||||||||||
Preceded by | Neil Abercrombie | ||||||||||
Succeeded by | Colleen Hanabusa | ||||||||||
Member of the Honolulu City Council from the 4th district | |||||||||||
In office December 2002 –May 22,2010 | |||||||||||
Preceded by | Duke Bainum | ||||||||||
Succeeded by | Lee Donohue | ||||||||||
Member of the HawaiiHouseofRepresentatives from the 47th district | |||||||||||
In office January 1999 –December 2002 | |||||||||||
Preceded by | Iris Catalani | ||||||||||
Succeeded by | Colleen Meyer | ||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||
Born | Charles Kong Djou August 9,1970 Los Angeles,California,U.S. | ||||||||||
Political party | Independent (2018–present) | ||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Republican (before 2018) | ||||||||||
Spouse | Stacey Kawasaki | ||||||||||
Children | 3 | ||||||||||
Residence(s) | Honolulu,Hawaii,U.S. | ||||||||||
Education | University of Pennsylvania (BS,BA) University of Southern California (JD) United States Army War College (MA) | ||||||||||
Military service | |||||||||||
Allegiance | United States | ||||||||||
Branch/service | United States Army | ||||||||||
Rank | Colonel | ||||||||||
Unit | United States Army Reserve | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Chinese | 周永康 | ||||||||||
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Charles Kong Djou (born August 9,1970) is an American politician and attorney who is currently Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. A former member of the Republican Party,Djou briefly served as U.S. representative from Hawaii's 1st congressional district from May 2010 to January 2011. [1] As of 2024 [update] ,he is the last Republican to represent Hawaii in Congress.
Djou was elected to Congress in a May 2010 special election with 39.68% of the vote against two Democratic opponents. He was defeated in the November 2010 general election by Colleen Hanabusa. [2] His election made him the first Thai American,as well as the first Republican of Chinese American descent,to serve in the House of Representatives. Prior to his election to Congress,he was a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives and the Honolulu City Council.
Following his defeat in 2010,he unsuccessfully ran to represent the district in the 2012 and 2014 elections. In 2016,he was a candidate for Mayor of Honolulu,ultimately losing to Kirk Caldwell by a 52% to 48% margin. In 2018,Djou left the Republican Party due to his opposition to then-President Donald Trump. [3] Djou supported Democratic nominee Joe Biden's candidacy in the 2020 presidential election. Following Biden's victory,Djou was appointed Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. [4]
Djou was born on August 9,1970 in Los Angeles,California to a Chinese father from Shanghai and a Thai Chinese mother from Bangkok. His paternal grandfather fled Shanghai following the Communist revolution,settling in British Hong Kong. [5]
Djou grew up in Hawaii after his father's employer transferred him there when Djou was three. [6] [7] He graduated from high school at Punahou School,and earned 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. Djou earned his M.A. graduate degree in strategic studies at the US Army War College where he was a resident student and Carlisle Scholar.[ citation needed ]
Djou is a colonel in the United States Army Reserve. [8] He has taught as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Hawaii and as an adjunct professor of political science at Hawaii Pacific University.
Djou was Vice Chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party from 1998 to 1999 and was later named legislator of the year by Small Business Hawaii in 2002,2004,and 2006. In 2006 he was selected as one of the 40 most promising leaders in Hawaii under age 40 by Pacific Business News ,and in 2005 was named by Honolulu Weekly as the "Best Politician" in the state.
In 1998,Djou ran as a Republican for the Hawaii State House of Representatives District 47 seat. He was unopposed in the primary election, [9] but lost to Iris Ikeda Catalani in the general election by 190 votes. [10]
In 2000,he again ran for the Hawaii State House of Representatives District 47 seat. Unopposed in the primary,he faced Catalani in the general election. Catalani faced controversy in the campaign,with allegations that she broke a promise to the Outdoor Circle,a community beautification organization, [11] by posting yard signs. [12] Djou won the race with 52.5 percent of the vote to Catalani's 44.2 percent. [13]
As a member of the State House of Representatives,Djou had one term in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2000 to 2002 and was the Minority Floor Leader. Djou launched a successful campaign to open the State Budget worksheets to the public after being told he could look at the budget worksheets in the committee room but was not allowed to take any notes or make copies of them. The documents detail the budget for various state departments and agencies. He opposed the state "van cam" program launched in 2002 to catch speeders using automated cameras instead of police officers,and successfully campaigned for its elimination. [14]
In 2002,Djou announced he would run for the Honolulu City Council. He also announced he would move to East Honolulu (City Council District IV) from Kaneohe (City Council District III) to avoid running against fellow Republican Stan Koki. [15] Honolulu City and County elections are officially nonpartisan,and any candidate who wins a majority of the votes in the primary election can win outright. No candidate received a majority of the votes in the primary election, [16] so Djou and Robert Fishman,a former city managing director and chief of staff to the governor,faced each other in a runoff in the general election. Djou won with 51.3 percent of the vote to Fishman's 39.2 percent. [17]
Djou ran for reelection to the Honolulu City Council. He was unopposed and won the seat by default. [18]
In 2002,Djou was elected to the Honolulu City Council,representing District IV (Waikiki to Hawaii Kai). He was reelected in 2006 and was on the council until his election to Congress. On the City Council he was the Chairman of the Zoning Committee,Vice Chair of the Planning Committee and as a member of the Transportation and Public Safety &Services committees.
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. [19] The seat became vacant on February 28, 2010, when incumbent Neil Abercrombie resigned to run for Governor of Hawaii. [20] Abercrombie's resignation precipitated a special election on May 22, 2010, which Djou entered. Djou was endorsed by former Massachusetts Governor and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. [21] Djou subsequently endorsed Romney for president in the summer of 2011. [22] Former Hawaii Congresswoman Patricia Saiki, a Republican for whom Djou had once volunteered as a teenager, was Djou's honorary campaign chair. [23] [24]
In the special election, Djou received 39.4 percent of the vote. He defeated five Democrats, four Republicans, and four independent candidates. [25] [26] Among the candidates Djou defeated were former Congressman Ed Case and State Senator Colleen Hanabusa, two Democrats who together polled over 58% of the vote. [27] Djou was sworn in three days later and was in office for the remainder of Abercrombie's 2010 term, serving from May 2010 to January 2011. He was the first Republican to represent the district in 20 years. [28] He followed Abercrombie and Patsy Mink as the third person to have been in the Honolulu City Council, Hawaii State Legislature and U.S. Congress, and was the first to be elected to all three chambers before age 40.
Djou had opposed Hawaii House Bill 444 in 2009, a bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex and opposite-sex couples, and supported the federal Defense of Marriage Act. He stated that lawmakers "ignored the will of the people" who enacted Hawaii Constitutional Amendment 2 in 1998. [29]
Djou was one of a handful of Congressional Republicans who voted in favor of an amendment to the 2011 Department of Defense Authorization Bill that would repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" law and allow gay people to serve in the U.S. military. [30]
Djou supported comprehensive immigration reform and was one of eight Republicans who voted for the DREAM Act to allow immigrants brought to the U.S. as children earn citizenship through service in the military or obtaining a college education and a job. [31]
On May 28, 2010, Djou spoke on the floor of the House in support of approving the South Korean Free Trade Agreement, which was signed by former president George W. Bush on June 30, 2007. [32] Congress approved the agreement on October 11, 2011. [33]
Djou ran for a full term in November 2010. [27] There was some controversy over the use of robocalling by the Congressman's official U.S. House office, both before the election and afterward, [34] [35] [36] [37] but as with all official mass communication between members of the House and their constituents, the phone survey conducted on behalf of Djou's office was approved by the bipartisan Franking Commission as an appropriate use of official resources for the purpose of communicating with constituents. [37]
Djou was defeated by the Democratic nominee, State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, 53% to 47%. [2] Djou was one of only two Republican incumbents to lose a general election in 2010, along with Joseph Cao in Louisiana. [38]
Djou announced on August 17, 2011, that he would challenge Hanabusa in the 1st district in 2012. A major in the U.S. Army Reserve, Djou suspended his campaign for six months while deployed to Afghanistan with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, from September 2011 [39] to March 2012. [40] Djou lost to Hanabusa in the general election, [41] with 45.4% of the vote. [42]
Djou ran for the 1st district again in 2014. [43] Although he garnered a greater percentage of the vote in a general election than any other Republican running for Congress in Hawaii since 1988, he still narrowly lost to Democratic state representative Mark Takai, who received 51.2% of the vote. [44]
Djou announced on June 7, 2016 that he was running for the nonpartisan office of Mayor of Honolulu against incumbent Mayor Kirk Caldwell, former Mayor Peter Carlisle, and at least ten others. In the nonpartisan race, Djou had already received the endorsement of former governor Ben Cayetano, an anti-rail Democrat. [45] On June 15, Djou announced that retired Federal Judge and former Chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Walter Heen, would chair Djou's campaign, and City Council member Ann Kobayashi, also a Democrat, supported Djou for mayor. [46] With no candidate receiving more than 50% of the vote on August 13, 2016, a decision between the top two candidates, Djou and Caldwell, would be made in the November 8, 2016 election. [47]
Caldwell defeated Djou, 52% to 48%. [48] Though both candidates supported the municipal rail project, its cost overruns were an issue, as well as Caldwell's alleged interference with the Ethics Commission. Labor group support was split between the pair. [49]
Djou served as the Hawaii state campaign chair of John Kasich's 2016 presidential campaign and urged voters before the 2016 Hawaii caucuses to reject Donald Trump. [50] In 2018, Djou left the Republican Party, citing concerns with its policies and President Trump's character. [51] In October 2019, Djou said, "It would be fair to say that I'm an independent Democratic[ sic ]". [52] On July 9, 2020, Republican Voters Against Trump released a video in which Djou urged voters to vote against Trump. [53]
Djou is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One. [54]
On March 9, 2020, Djou published an op-ed article in Honolulu Civil Beat announcing that he would not enter the 2020 Honolulu mayoral election, though he has accused Honolulu politicians of incompetence in handling important issues. [55] Djou wrote, "while it is clear to all that Honolulu is in desperate need of dramatic change and real leadership, I have come to the difficult decision that I am not the best person to lead this charge in the 2020 election." He said he might endorse a candidate but had not yet made a decision.
In addition to his decision not to run for mayor of Honolulu, Djou announced he was selected to serve in the United States Army War College to complete a graduate degree in Strategic Studies. With his decision to set politics aside, Djou wrote, "completing War College will better position me to assume more significant future roles and duties in service to our country. And unfortunately, running for public office this fall would conflict with this military assignment." [56]
In 2020, Djou endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for President alongside 26 other former Republican members of Congress. [57] In May 2022, President Biden appointed Djou to be secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. [4] In August 2024, Djou wrote an op-ed for Fox News praising 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz. [58]
Djou is married to Stacey Kawasaki Djou, a Japanese American. They have three children. His surname is a French transliteration of the Chinese surname Zhou. [59] This originates from his grandfather's work at a French engineering company in Shanghai in the 1920s, where he was referred to as "Dijou", a name he later wrote on his immigration papers. [5]
Djou was on the board of directors of the American Lung Association and a member of the Neighborhood Board. He is a member of the Young Business Roundtable, the Rotary Club, and the Hawaii Telecommunications Association. [59]
Since 2010, Djou has contributed op-ed articles as a writer for Honolulu Civil Beat, a local nonprofit journalism website. [60]
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Colleen Wakako Hanabusa is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district from 2011 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for her party's nomination for governor of Hawaii in 2018, challenging and losing to incumbent and fellow Democrat David Ige.
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Kirk William Caldwell is an American politician who served as the mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, 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. Caldwell announced that he would be running for the Democratic nomination in the 2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election in September 2021, but withdrew the following May.
The 2010 special election for the 1st congressional district of Hawaii was a special election to the United States House of Representatives that took place to fill the vacancy caused by Representative Neil Abercrombie's resignation on February 28, 2010, to focus on his campaign for Governor of Hawaii in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Abercrombie planned not to run for re-election in 2010, and many of the candidates that were running for his open seat transferred to the special election. The election was held on May 22, 2010, and Republican Charles Djou won, defeating five Democrats, four fellow Republicans, and four Independent candidates. The main reason for his win was because there were two Democratic candidates instead of one, which split the votes, allowing Djou to win, as Hawaii is an overwhelmingly Democratic state. This is to date the only time a Republican was elected to Congress from Hawaii since Pat Saiki in 1988; Djou volunteered on Saiki's 1988 campaign, and Saiki served as Djou's campaign chair in 2010.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Hawaii took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the 2012 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic senator Daniel Akaka decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth full term. Democrat Mazie Hirono defeated Republican Linda Lingle in a rematch of Hawaii's 2002 gubernatorial election. This was the first open Senate seat in the state of Hawaii since 1976.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the two U.S. representatives from the state, one from each of the state's two congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election for the United States Senate. Primary elections were held on August 11, 2012.
Hawaii's 2012 general elections were held on November 6, 2012. Primary elections were held on August 11, 2012.
The 2014 Hawaii gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Hawaii, concurrently with a special election to Hawaii's Class III Senate Seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2014 United States Senate special election in Hawaii took place on November 4, 2014, the general Election Day in the United States, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, to elect the two U.S. representatives from the state of Hawaii, one from each of the state's two congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including an election for Governor of Hawaii and a special election to the United States Senate.
The 2016 Honolulu mayoral election determined the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu for the full term commencing in January 2017. As in the previous several elections, Skyline and its cost overruns was a major topic of the campaign.
U.S. Representative Mark Takai, who represented Hawaii's 1st congressional district, died July 20, 2016. A special election was held November 8, 2016. In special elections in Hawaii, all candidates run on one ballot with the highest vote recipient winning regardless of percentage. That is what allowed Republican Charles Djou to win the 2010 special election for this seat with 39.4% of the vote when two Democrats took 58.4% of the vote combined. However this special election was held on the same ballot as the regularly scheduled election for this seat to the 115th Congress.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, to elect the two U.S. representatives from the U.S. state of Hawaii; one from each of the state's two congressional districts. Primaries were held on August 11, 2018. The elections and primaries coincided with the elections and primaries of other federal and state offices.
The 2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the next governor of Hawaii. Incumbent Democratic governor David Ige was term-limited and ineligible to run for a third term. Incumbent lieutenant governor Josh Green was the Democratic nominee, and faced former lieutenant governor Duke Aiona, the Republican nominee. This marked the third time Aiona had been the Republican gubernatorial nominee, having previously run unsuccessfully in 2010 and 2014. Green won the election with 63.2% of the vote.
The 2020 Honolulu mayoral election determined the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu for the term commencing in January 2021. Incumbent mayor Kirk Caldwell was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits.
son of immigrant parents from Shanghai and Bangkok
When I was 16 years old, ... I volunteered for a woman named Patricia Saiki.... 24 years after I volunteered ... Pat Saiki served as the honorary chair of my campaign
Pat Saiki is Djou's honorary campaign chair