Trailblazing Hawaii Republican Pat Saiki Dies at 96
Former Rep. Patricia “Pat” Saiki, the first Republican elected to the U.S. House from Hawaii after statehood, has died at the age of 96.
Saiki died Wednesday at her home in Honolulu.
Her son Stuart Saiki said she died peacefully of natural causes.
He remembered his mother as both a groundbreaking political figure and a devoted parent who raised five children while serving in public office.
“She would help me with my homework, and she would be just a regular mom to us as well as a politician,” Stuart said.
“So we called her Supermom.”
Saiki was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Stanley Saiki, and their oldest son, Stanley Saiki Jr.
She is survived by four children — Sandra, Margaret, Stuart and Laurie — along with her grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are still pending.
Saiki spent decades in public service and became one of the most prominent Republican figures in Hawaii politics.
She was the first Republican elected to the U.S. House from Hawaii after the state entered the Union in 1959.
She was also only the second woman to represent Hawaii in Congress.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green ordered U.S. and state flags lowered at the state Capitol, government offices and Hawaii National Guard facilities in her honor.
The flags are scheduled to remain lowered from sunrise Friday through sunrise Monday.
Green praised Saiki’s long career and the example she set for women and Asian Americans.
“Pat Saiki’s six decades of public service and her pioneering example for young women and Asian Americans in Hawaii and across the U.S. combine to form both a lasting, inspiring legacy and a high bar for all of us who serve the public,” Green said.
Saiki was born in Hilo and graduated from Hilo High School.
She later attended the University of Hawaii before becoming a teacher.
Her path into politics began in part because of an experience she had while teaching at Kaimuki Intermediate School.
Saiki later recalled being told that one of her daughters had been taken to a hospital.
When she tried to call and check on her child, she said school rules prevented her from using a school telephone for a personal call.
The episode helped motivate her to begin organizing teachers.
Saiki contacted Hawaii Government Employees Association leader Charles Kendall and helped establish a teachers’ chapter of the organization.
She later wrote that organizers recruited more than 2,000 teachers while advocating for workplace changes.
Those demands included planning periods and private access to telephones.
Saiki eventually became chair of the organization and represented teachers before the state Legislature.
She then decided to run for office herself.
In 1968, Saiki campaigned for the Hawaii House as a Republican with the slogan, “This District Needs a Woman in the House.”
She won.
Saiki served in the state House until 1974 and then in the Hawaii Senate from 1974 until 1982.
After an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, she became chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party.
Her biggest electoral breakthrough came in 1986.
Saiki won the election to the U.S. House in a state where Democrats had long dominated federal races, per the Conservative Brief.
She served two terms in Congress from 1987 until 1991.
One of her most significant accomplishments came during the push for reparations for Japanese Americans incarcerated by the federal government during World War II.
Saiki worked to build Republican support for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
The legislation formally apologized for the internment and authorized $20,000 payments to surviving detainees.
President Ronald Reagan later signed the measure into law.
Saiki’s family also highlighted her work convincing President George H.W. Bush to end the U.S. Navy’s use of Kahoolawe as a bombing and target-training range.
She gave up her House seat in 1990 to run for the U.S. Senate but lost to Democrat Daniel Akaka.
Bush later appointed her administrator of the Small Business Administration in 1991.
Saiki led the agency until 1993.
She later taught at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Saiki returned to electoral politics in 1994 with an unsuccessful run for governor.
Decades later, she again served as chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party.
Her death closes the chapter on a political career that spanned state government, Congress and a presidential administration.
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