Mayor of Honolulu

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Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu
Seal of the City and County of Honolulu
Incumbent Rick Blangiardi since January 2, 2021
Term length	4 years Maximum of 2 consecutive full terms[1]
Inaugural holder	Joseph James Fern
Formation	1909
Website	Office of the Mayor

The Mayor of Honolulu is the chief executive officer of the City and County of Honolulu. An office established in 1900 and modified in 1907, the mayor of Honolulu is elected by universal suffrage of residents of Honolulu to no more than two four-year terms. The City and County of Honolulu's elected officials include the Mayor, the Prosecuting Attorney, and Councilmembers representing nine districts.^[1]

The mayor of Honolulu has full control over appointment and removal of administrators, is invested with absolute control over department heads, wields veto power over the Honolulu City Council and has substantial control over the budget, totaling in excess of US$1 billion.

Honolulu Hale and other offices[]

The mayor of Honolulu conducts official business from Honolulu Hale, the historic city hall building of Honolulu constructed in 1928 in classical Spanish villa architectural styles. The building is located at the northeast corner of King and Punchbowl streets in the Hawaii Capital Historic District near downtown Honolulu. Other administrative officers under the mayor of Honolulu work from separate municipal buildings on the larger civic campus of which Honolulu Hale is a part.

Domestic policy[]

From the courtyard of Honolulu Hale, the mayor of Honolulu is mandated by the City and County charters to make an annual State of the City address. In this speech, the mayor of Honolulu outlines the administrative and legislative agenda for the year. It is also a summation of the budget to be implemented compared to the budget of the previous year.

The mayor of Honolulu also organizes the major public services managed by the mayor’s office. The mayor oversees dozens of departments, including: , Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Police Department and the . Unlike most United States mayors, the mayor of Honolulu does not oversee any schools, a jurisdiction of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education.

Managing director[]

Assisting the mayor of Honolulu in overseeing these departments and other domestic policy issues is the Managing Director of Honolulu. His or her most important role is to serve as acting mayor in absence or resignation. The current Managing Director is Michael Formby.

Foreign policy[]

Honolulu is often considered the "Geneva of the Pacific"^{[according to whom?]} due to its commercial and trade, political and military, as well as academic influences over Asia and the Pacific Rim. Honolulu is the site of several international governmental and non-governmental organizations and summits, as well as the site of high-profile multinational military exercises called RIMPAC. RIMPAC is conducted by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command whose headquarters is in Honolulu’s Salt Lake subdivision.

The uniqueness of Honolulu’s significance to the global community has forced the mayor of Honolulu to assume a constant diplomatic role that goes beyond the foreign policy roles of almost all other United States mayors. The mayor of Honolulu serves as concurrent chairman of several multinational mayoral bodies and convenes special sessions of international summits regularly.^{[citation needed]}

First Lady of Honolulu[]

As a Hawaiian tradition, the wife of the mayor of Honolulu is honored with the ceremonial title of "First Lady of Honolulu." Honolulu is distinct in this tradition as most United States cities and towns reserve the title of "First Lady" to the wife of the state governor, the wife of the President of the United States or the wife of a visiting foreign head of government. Honolulu deemed it necessary to bestow the ceremonial title to reflect her role in relation to her husband’s extensive international responsibilities. The title is not codified in modern law but is an honorific.

List of mayors of Honolulu[]

Portrait	Mayor		Term	Party	Notes
		Joseph James Fern	1909–1915	Democratic	1st tenure
		John Carey Lane	1915–1917	Republican
		Joseph James Fern	1917–1920	Democratic	2nd tenure
		John Henry Wilson	1920–1927	Democratic	1st tenure
		Charles Neil Arnold	1927–1929	Republican
		John Henry Wilson	1929–1931	Democratic	2nd tenure
		George Fredrerick Wright	1931–1938	Republican
		Charles Spencer Crane	1938–1941	Republican
		Lester Petrie	1941–1947	Democratic
		John Henry Wilson	1947–1955	Democratic	3rd tenure
		Neal Shaw Blaisdell	1955–1969	Republican
		Frank Francis Fasi	1969–1981	Democratic	1st tenure
		Eileen Anderson	1981–1985	Democratic
		Frank Francis Fasi	1985–1994	Republican	2nd tenure
		Jeremy Harris	1994–2005	Democratic
		Mufi Francis Hannemann	2005–2010	Democratic
		Peter Carlisle	2010–2013	Independent
		Kirk Caldwell	2013–2021	Democratic
		Rick Blangiardi	2021–present	Independent

Notable candidates and acting mayors[]

• D. G. Anderson
• Duke Bainum
• Kirk Caldwell, Acting Mayor of Honolulu, July–October 2010
• Charles Djou
• Colleen Hanabusa
• Ben Lee
• Patsy Mink

Resources[]

• City & County of Honolulu
• Agencies and Departments

See also[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mayors of Honolulu, Hawaii.

• Timeline of Honolulu

Notes[]