Senate
| Senator | Party | State | Term | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | Length of service (days) | ||||||
 | Mazie Hirono | Democratic | Hawaii | January 3, 2013 | Incumbent | 4,027 (11 years, 10 days) | First Buddhist senator [1] [2] | |
This is a list of Buddhist members of the United States Congress .
As of 2023 [update] , only three Buddhists have ever been elected to Congress, the first being both Mazie Hirono and Hank Johnson in 2007. One Buddhist currently serves in the House of Representatives and one Buddhist serves in the Senate.
| Senator | Party | State | Term | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | Length of service (days) | ||||||
| | Mazie Hirono | Democratic | Hawaii | January 3, 2013 | Incumbent | 4,027 (11 years, 10 days) | First Buddhist senator [1] [2] | |
| Representative | Party | District | Term | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | Length of service (days) | ||||||
 | Mazie Hirono | Democratic | HI-02 | January 3, 2007 | January 3, 2013 | 2,192 (6 years, 0 days) | One of the first two Buddhists in Congress. Retired to run successfully for U.S. Senator from Hawaii. [1] [2] | |
 | Hank Johnson | Democratic | GA-04 | January 3, 2007 | Incumbent | 6,219 (17 years, 10 days) | One of the first two Buddhists in Congress [3] | |
 | Colleen Hanabusa | Democratic | HI-01 | January 3, 2011 | January 3, 2015 | 1,461 (4 years, 0 days) | Retired to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senator from Hawaii. [4] | |
| November 14, 2016 | January 3, 2019 | 779 (2 years, 50 days) | Elected in special election to succeed Mark Takai, who died in office Retired to run unsuccessfully for governor of Hawaii | |||||
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives. The U.S. vice president has a vote in the Senate only when senators are evenly divided. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members.
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Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Hawaii since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Hirono previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013. Hirono also served as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1981 to 1995 and as Hawaii's tenth lieutenant governor from 1994 to 2002, under Ben Cayetano. She was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for governor of Hawaii in 2002, defeated by Republican Linda Lingle in the general election.
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The religious affiliation in the United States Senate reflects the variety of religion in the United States, despite not being in line with the religious affiliation of the general population.
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This article covers the religious affiliation in the United States House of Representatives.
The number of Buddhists in Congress fell from three to two, as Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, lost her bid for a Senate seat.