State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim: A Household Name in Hawaii
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Hawaii State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim at the rostrum as Sanate President
She’s best known as a longtime legislator, currently serving as chair of the State Senate Higher Education Committee, but also holding such past posts as Senate president and vice president and chair of other key committees during her 20-year tenure in this legislative body. Before that, Kim was a four-term member of the Honolulu City Council and member of the House of Representatives.
Kim represents the 14th Senatorial District that includes Alewa, Kapalama, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter, Moanalua Gardens, Moanalua Valley, and parts of Halawa and Aiea.
Her ethnic and cultural background reflects the diversity of her island roots. Her Filipino and Spanish ancestries are from her grandfather, a native of Batangas province south of Metro Manila. Her parents were Andrew and Lily Kim.
Senator Kim appointed as one of 6 senators to the Senate Special Committee. The COVID-19 committee holds an info briefing with the State Department of Transportation.
She grew up in the blue-collar neighborhood of Kalihi-Palama, which many immigrants and Hawaii-born Filipinos have called home beginning in the early 1900s. Kim graduated from Farrington High School, attended the University of Hawaii, and then transferred to Washington State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree.
Returning home following graduation, Kim worked in the visitor industry and began a career in business before deciding to enter politics as a complete novice in the early 1980s. She would enter and win a 1982 race for a seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives. Following a term in the House, Kim ran for the Honolulu City Council and would be there for 15 years, where she was named chair of the powerful Zoning Committee. In 2000, she was elected to the Senate, thereby continuing an uninterrupted, 38-year-long string of election victories that has brought her to this point in her public service career.
Charmen Vasquez, Elsa Talavera, Joo Kim and Dr. Nancy Atmospera-Walch join Senator Kim to celebrate the passing of the Caregivers Bill.
Kim has earned a reputation as a tough and fearless legislator, using her platform to exercise the Legislature’s oversight mandate. She has helped uncover the abuse of overtime by state employees, misspending of taxpayer dollars, irregularities in airport contracts, and lax oversight of government operations by administrators. Her role has led to her appointment as chair of the Senate Committee on Accountability and as a member of the Senate Committee on COVID-19, the latter of which has brought to light the state administration’s many missteps in responding to the pandemic.
Her other accomplishments are many. She called for the establishment of an Affirmative Action Task Force to review the University of Hawaii’s policies on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual harassment, and stalking. She’s introduced legislation requiring the City and County of Honolulu to post policies on domestic violence, police-officer-involved domestic violence, and standards of conduct for public employees.
Hawaii Philippines Business and Economic Council Board Members Rose Mendoza, Lindy Aquino and Rose Churma visit with Senator Kim in her office during the 2020 Legislative session.
She secured recurring funding for the preservation and maintenance of natural resources like beaches, parks, trails, and other public lands. The senator facilitated the passage of a minimum wage bill and worked on the passage of a bill to assist minority-owned businesses. While on the City Council, she initiated a pilot project to install security cameras in public parks.
Not all of her work is devoted to legislative concerns. Kim serves on the board of directors of the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL) and is currently serves as Chair of NFWL. She co-chaired the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators during its National Summit meeting in Hawaii in 2016.
She established the Aloha Spirit Award to recognize middle-school students in her district for their exceptional academic and personal accomplishments. Kim regularly visits senior centers on Grandparents Day, distributes school supplies at elementary schools, participates in Read Aloud Days at various schools, and is always front-and-center at charitable events, community meetings and gatherings, and public functions too numerous to mention.
Kim was one of only six prominent women of Filipino ancestry in Hawaii to be honored as “Pioneer Pillars” by the Filipino Chronicle in celebration of Women's History Month in 2020.
Families from the Keiki O Ka Aina Preschool in Kalihi Valley visits with Senator Kim on Opening Day of the Hawaii State Legislature.
With everything that she’s done in her distinguished and productive political career, Senator Donna Mercado Kim exemplifies the model public servant for her energetic work ethic, remarkable leadership, and other virtues and values.
Personally, I find her approachable, accommodating, fair, just, and reflective. And her guiding principle in life is embodied in the following passage that she often quotes:
“There are some who bring a light so great to the world that even after they have gone, the light remains.”
Dr. Belinda Aquino
Dr. Belinda A. Aquino is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, was the UP Vice President for Public Affairs (1989-91), Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Awardee of UPAA (2008), and Most Distinguished UP Alumna (2003). She finished a BA in English from UP, an MA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Ph.D from Cornell University.
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