Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), the second woman of color elected to the Senate, the body’s only currently serving immigrant and a staunch advocate for other immigrants, struck a defiant and confident tone in a pair of town halls in her home state over the weekend.
“Who knew that scientists would march?” she said to a crowd in Honolulu on Saturday morning. “There’s hope, everybody.
“And you guys are it!”
Hirono has consistently received scores above 90 percent from Progressive Punch since being elected to Congress in 2006 and the Senate in 2012. In the weekend meetings, Hirono unabashedly advocated for progressive policies, including diplomacy over war and Medicare for All over Trumpcare.
“They used to call us liberals” she said. “And I’m proud of it.”
In a state with a large population of immigrants, it wasn’t surprising the discussion turned to Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices, as reported by Civil Beat:
“We have ICE agents knocking on doors tearing families apart,” Hirono said. “I will raise my voice about targeting minorities for discrimination … I hate that term ‘rounded up,’ like they are not human beings.”
Hirono took questions from the audience without any apparent screening. When one speaker touted Elizabeth Warren for president in 2020, Hirono said she and Warren “are on the same page” and frequently cosponsor legislation.
In further discussion on national politics, Hirono noted she’d endorsed Keith Ellison for chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Hirono held a later town hall on the island of Kaua`i, where she expressed support for a federal minimum wage of $15 and an end to the electoral college.
Though she hails from “an island in the Pacific,” which some in Washington seem to disregard, Hirono shows no signs of allowing her constituents’ values and interests to be ignored. She’s up for reelection next year.