Brian Schatz

Brian Emanuel Schatz (pronounced ; born October 20, 1972) is an American politician who is the junior United States Senator for Hawaii.

Schatz served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006, where he represented the 25th Legislative District, and was chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii from 2008 to 2010. He also worked as chief executive officer of Helping Hands Hawaii, an Oahu nonprofit social service agency, until he quit to run for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii in the 2010 Hawaii gubernatorial election as the running mate of Neil Abercrombie. He served as lieutenant governor until December 26, 2012, when Abercrombie appointed him to serve out Daniel Inouye's U.S. Senate term until the 2014 special election.

Early life, education, and early career
Schatz was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father is Irwin Schatz, a cardiologist and native of Saint Boniface, Manitoba. When Brian was two years old, his family moved to Hawaii, where he graduated from Punahou School. Schatz enrolled at Pomona College in Claremont, California; he spent a term studying in Kenya as part of the International Training Program, where he developed skills in public service. After graduating with a B.A. in philosophy, he returned to Hawaii, where he taught at Punahou before taking other jobs in the nonprofit sector. He became active in the community through his involvement in Youth for Environmental Services in the 1980s. He served as CEO of Helping Hands Hawaii and director of the Makiki Community Library and of the Center for a Sustainable Future. In March 2010, Schatz stepped down from Helping Hands to run for lieutenant governor.

Elections
In 1998, Schatz, a Democrat, challenged the incumbent State Representative of the 24th District of the Hawaii House of Representatives, Republican Sam Aiona, and won, 53%-47%. In the 2000 rematch, he was re-elected, 57%-43%. In 2002, he ran in the newly redrawn 25th House district, and defeated Republican Bill Hols, 69%-31%. In 2004, he defeated Republican Tracy Okubo 64%-36%. The 25th district, one of the densest and most diverse areas of urban Honolulu, includes Makiki, McCully, and Tantalus on the island of Oahu.

Committee assignments

 * Agriculture
 * Consumer Protection and Commerce (Vice Chair)
 * Economic Development and Business (Chair)
 * Energy and Environmental Protection
 * Hawaiian Affairs
 * Higher Education
 * Land and Ocean Resources
 * Water (Vice Chair)

2006 congressional election
Schatz ran for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, being vacated by incumbent U.S. Congressman Ed Case, who had decided to run for the U.S. Senate. The Democratic primary featured 10 candidates, seven of whom served in the Hawaii Legislature. Mazie Hirono, the Lieutenant Governor, was the only one who had held statewide office and thus enjoyed the most name recognition. She also raised more money than any other candidate in the race, mostly because of the endorsement of EMILY's List, and gave her campaign a personal loan of $100,000. Still, she won with just 22% of the vote, just 845 votes ahead of State Senator Colleen Hanabusa. Schatz ranked sixth with 7% of the vote, behind Hirono and four state senators.

Support for Obama
Schatz, one of the earliest supporters of Barack Obama for president, founded a group with other Hawaii Democrats in December 2006 to urge Obama to run. Schatz said, "For the last six years we've been governed by fear, fear of terrorists, fear of other countries, even fear of the other party...everyone is governing by fear and Barack Obama changes all of that. He wants to govern the United States by hope." In 2008, Schatz worked as spokesman for Obama's campaign in Hawaii.

State Chairman
In April 2008, he began running for the position of chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and won the job at the state convention the following month. During his tenure, the Democrats increased the number of active party members and delivered Obama's best performance of any state in the country. Obama won the state of Hawaii with 73% of the vote, when just 55% of the state voted for Democratic nominee John Kerry in United States presidential election in Hawaii, 2004. Schatz stepped down on January 9, 2010.

2010 election


On January 10, 2010, Schatz announced his candidacy for the office of lieutenant governor. Schatz's campaign priorities included the creation of clean-energy jobs, public education, and technological improvements in the public sector. He has also declared his support for Hawaii House Bill 444, which would have allowed same-sex civil unions in Hawaii had it not been vetoed by Governor Linda Lingle. A number of Hawaii labor unions endorsed Schatz for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary election, held statewide on September 18, 2010.

Tenure
On December 6, 2010, Schatz was inaugurated as Hawaii's 11th lieutenant governor alongside Neil Abercrombie, who had defeated incumbent Lieutenant Governor James Aiona. Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice James Duffy administered the oath of office at the Coronation Pavilion on the grounds of ʻIolani Palace.

U.S. Senate (2012–present)
On December 26, 2012, as prescribed by Hawaii law, the Hawaii Democratic Party nominated three candidates to fill the seat vacated by the death of Daniel Inouye: Lt. Gov. Schatz, Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, and Esther Kia'aina, the deputy director of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. The same day, Abercrombie named Schatz to the job. Schatz announced his intention to run for election in the special election to be held in 2014. Schatz flew to Washington, D.C., with President Barack Obama on Air Force One. On December 27, Schatz was sworn as senator by Vice President Joseph Biden.

Political positions
As lieutenant governor, Schatz indicated his support for marriage-equality propositions.

In one of his first votes as senator, he voted against renewing the FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012.

Personal life
Schatz is married to Linda Kwok Kai Yun Schatz and has a son, Tyler, and a daughter, Mia.

Brian's identical twin brother, Steve, runs the Hawaii Department of Education's Office of Strategic Reform.