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Daniel Kahikina Akaka (born September 11, 1924) is a U.S. Senator from Hawaii and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the first U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry and is the only Chinese American member of the Senate (and one of two Senators with Japanese ancestry).
Akaka was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including service on Saipan and Tinian. He earned a Bachelor of Education (1952) and Master of Education (1966) from the University of Hawaii.
He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1976 to represent Hawaii's Second Congressional District. He won seven consecutive elections by wide margins.
Akaka was appointed to the Senate in April 1990 to serve temporarily in place of the late Senator Spark Matsunaga, and sworn into office on May 16, 1990. In November of the same year, he was elected to complete the remaining four years of Matsunaga's unexpired term. He was re-elected in 1994 for a full six-year term, and, with over 70 percent of the popular vote, again in 2000.
As of 2002-2003, he serves on the Select Committee on Ethics, and the following Senate committees:
- Armed Services,
- Energy and Natural Resources,
- Governmental Affairs (GAC),
- Veterans' Affairs,
- Indian Affairs.
He is married to Mary Mildred Chong; they have 5 children, 14 grandchildren, and one great grandson.
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