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Commercial Pilot — State Senator Kahele is a commercial airline pilot with Hawaiian Airlines where he has flown international and domestic passenger routes since 2009. As a Hawaiian Airlines pilot, he is a member of their union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Lieutenant Colonel — Senator Kahele serves his country and his state with honor as a lieutenant colonel with the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard, United States Air Force. He is a decorated 19-year combat veteran aviator with multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2005. He is the recipient of the Air Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal, and a past Pacific Air Forces Guard Officer of the Year and Hawaiʻi Air National Guard Officer of the Year.

State Senator — Senator Kahele has served in the Hawaiʻi State Senate for the 1^st district of Hawaiʻi Island since February 2016, when he was appointed by Governor Ige to fill the seat of his father, State Senator Gil Kahele, after his unexpected death. Senator Kahele was subsequently elected and re-elected in 2016 and 2018. He currently serves as Majority Floor Leader, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Water and Land, Vice Chairman of Hawaiian Affairs, and member of the Committees on Ways and Means, and Higher Education.

Meet Kai, Why Congress, Military Service, Economy

Senator Kahele’s community values stem from his roots. His father and grandfather were born in Miloliʻi, the last remaining native Hawaiian fishing village in Hawaiʻi, where Kai learned the values of aloha, caring for our community and protecting our natural environment. Like his father, the late State Senator Gil Kahele, Kai is passionate about public service and partners with nonprofit organizations to help our most vulnerable, including: keiki, kūpuna, houseless and veterans.

Why Congress, Economy, Education, Medicare, Housing, Veterans Healthcare, Climate Action

Senator Kahele and his wife, Maria, are raising their family in Hilo, Kai’s hometown on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Maria is a twenty-year flight attendant (AFA-CWA) with Hawaiian Airlines, and she and Kai actively participate in their children’s education, instilling lifelong values and the love of learning. They have three beautiful daughters, ʻAleʻa, Nāmaka and ʻIolana.

Meet Kai, Education

If Kai is elected to Congress, he would be one of only two native Hawaiians ever to serve in the U.S. Congress since Hawaiʻi became a state, and the first elected official and current resident from the Neighbor Islands to represent Hawaiʻi’s 2^nd Congressional District.

Native Hawaiian & Indigenous Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Immigration & Refugees, Gender Equality