Dwight Y. Takamine is an Okinawan-American Hawaiistate senator and state representative. A Democrat, he represents the first district on the island of Hawai'i.
Early life and education
Takamine, the eldest of five children, was born January 29, 1953, and raised in the plantation community of Honokaa to Yoshito and Kimiko Takamine. Yoshito Takamine served in the Hawaii State House of Representatives from 1959 to 1984. Takamine attended Honokaa Elementary School and Honokaa High School where he excelled both athletically and scholastically. In 1971, Takamine graduated High School as class valedictorian. Takamine went on to earn a bachelor's degree in psychology while participating in the ethnic studies program at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. Takamine subsequently studied law at UH and received his law degree from the William S. Richardson School of Law in 1978.
Career
After graduating, Takmine began practicing law in Honolulu. In 1983, he opened his own law office in Hilo, Hawaii as his father Yoshito Takamine resigned after 26 years in the Hawaii House of Representatives. The younger Takamine took his father's seat in 1984. Takamine maintains a house in Laupahoehoe but usually lives in Honolulu with his second wife who is a school official there. He has continued to practice labor law, focusing on workers' compensation cases. On behalf of the ILWU, whose ties to the Takamines go back decades, Takamine has pushed a lumber mill in Ookala, and a wood-burning power plant in Paauilo. Local residents are against both proposals. Takamine and his father played a key role in the controversial 1980s Kamehameha Schools decision to buy the Hamakua Sugar Company lands and then plant them in eucalyptus. Since 1984, Takamine served as the State Representative for the Big Island's 1st District until 2007 when he was elected as the State Senator for District 1. During one campaign he "went to bat" at the century-old local Kalanianaole Elementary and Middle School located on the Hamakua Coast. With the demise of the jobs of the sugar-cane industry, the school had declined when Takamine stepped in and revived interest. His roles in the legislature as a Representative have included serving as Chair of several committees, notably the Finance Committee from 1998-2006. He was deposed from this position on the Finance Committee during pre-2007-session faction fighting in the Democratic caucus. During the 2006 campaign, Takamine had co-hosted an official Akaka campaign rally at the Honokaa ranch of Larry Mehau. Takamine and numerous other Democratic elected officials and candidates were photographed there by Hawai'i Free Press photojournalists. In this time, different factions were supporting their respective leaders for chair positions. When his faction failed to seat their leader, he was subsequently stripped of his committee chairmanship. He then ran for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen Lorrane Inouye. Dwight Takamine was elected November 4, 2008, as a candidate for the State Senate District 1 which includes Hilo, Hamakua, and Kamuela. His opponent was Republican Ted Hong, a former member of the UH Board of Regents and the former state labor negotiator. Takamine campaigned for President Barack Obama.
