Democrat Brian Schatz, the Senate’s second-youngest member behind Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, was appointed on Dec. 26, 2012 to fill the unexpired term of Democrat Daniel Inouye, who died nine days earlier. Schatz had been Hawaii’s lieutenant governor, Democratic Party chair and a state House member and is known for his liberal politics and political ambition. Read More
Democrat Brian Schatz, the Senate’s second-youngest member behind Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, was appointed on Dec. 26, 2012 to fill the unexpired term of Democrat Daniel Inouye, who died nine days earlier. Schatz had been Hawaii’s lieutenant governor, Democratic Party chair and a state House member and is known for his liberal politics and political ambition.
Schatz was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., one of two identical-twin sons of a cardiologist who worked at the University of Michigan hospital. (His brother, Steve, runs the Hawaii Department of Education’s Office of Strategic Reform.) When he was 2 years old, his father accepted a job at the University of Hawaii and the family moved to the state. After high school, Schatz went to Pomona College and received a degree in philosophy. He returned to Hawaii after college and worked for a nonprofit organization.
At age 26, Schatz was elected in 1998 to represent urban Honolulu in the 25th District in the state legislature. He rose to chair the Economic Development Committee and was appointed majority whip. When U.S. Rep. Ed Case decided to challenge Democrat Daniel Akaka for the Senate in 2006, Schatz became one of 10 candidates in the Democratic primary for Case's seat. He lost to Mazie Hirono, who at the time was lieutenant governor and who is now his Senate colleague. Schatz got just 7% of the vote and finishing sixth in the field.
He then turned his attention to Barack Obama, another young politician who grew up in Hawaii and who had graduated from the prestigious Punahou School. Schatz joined other Democrats in 2006 in founding a group urging the then-Illinois senator to run for president. “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,” Schatz told the Associated Press. “He wants to govern the United States by hope.” Schatz ran for and won the state Democratic Party chairmanship in 2008 and served as Obama’s campaign spokesman for Hawaii in the presidential race that year.
He announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor in January 2010 and ran with Neil Abercrombie, who had served 10 terms in the U.S. House before seeking the governorship. The campaign outraised GOP rival, Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, by 2-to-1 and won by 17 percentage points, a figure that surprised many Hawaii political observers.
As lieutenant governor, Schatz worked on energy and climate issues and publicly backed same-sex civil unions. “He has a quiet belief that wherever he goes, he can make good things happen,” Chuck Freedman, who chaired Schatz’s campaign, told PBS after Schatz's Senate appointment. “Brian felt that he could turn that position into a lot more than it had been before and go way beyond the job description.”
Before his death Inouye urged Abercrombie to appoint Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat who had taken a seat in the House the previous year, as his replacement. But Abercrombie, who had a well-publicized rift with Inouye, said he also listened to others in the state’s political circles and thought it was more important for Hanabusa to accumulate seniority in the House. In announcing his selection, he said Schatz “has demonstrated all of the qualities Hawaii could ask for in a senator: respect for our traditions and a strong sense of values, remarkably strong character and problem-solving capacities, and above all an abiding love for and commitment to the people of our state.” But Republicans said Schatz had a reputation for partisanship and questioned whether he would be able to bridge the Senate’s deep political divides.
Schatz traveled to Washington on Air Force One with Obama, who had been spending his Christmas vacation in Hawaii, and within a week recorded 20 votes on the Senate floor, including a vote in favor of the fiscal cliff budget deal.
