Mayor of Honolulu

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.<ref name=elected-officials>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 Board of Water Supply, Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Police Department and the [[Oahu Civil Defense Agency|OTemplate:Okinaahu Civil Defense Agency]]. Unlike most United States mayors, the mayor of Honolulu does not oversee any schools, a jurisdiction of the [[Hawaii State Department of Education|HawaiTemplate:Okinai 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. The managing director's most important role is to serve as acting mayor in absence or resignation. The current managing director is Michael Formby.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Foreign policy

Many people, including Jeffre Juliano and Robert K. Wrede have considered Honolulu to be the "Geneva of the Pacific" due to its commercial and trade, political and military, as well as academic influences over Asia and the Pacific Rim.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template: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.Template:Citation needed

List of mayors of Honolulu

No.	Portrait	Name	Party affiliation		Elected	Term in office
1	File:Joseph J. Fern (PNM-139-13818) (cropped).jpg	Joseph J. Fern Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1908 1910 1912	January 4, 1909 – January 4, 1915 Template:Small
2	File:John C. Lane (PNM-291-19991) (cropped).jpg	John C. Lane Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Republican	1914	January 4, 1915 – January 4, 1917 Template:Small
(1)	File:Joseph J. Fern (vol. 1, 1917) (cropped).jpg	Joseph J. Fern Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1916 1918	January 4, 1917 – February 20, 1920 Template:Small
3	File:John H. Wilson (vol. 2, 1921) (cropped).jpg	John H. Wilson Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1920 1922 1924	February 26, 1920 – January 2, 1927 Template:Small
4	File:Charles N. Arnold (PP-67-5-010) (cropped).jpg	Charles N. Arnold Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Republican	1926	January 2, 1927 – January 1, 1929 Template:Small
(3)	File:John H. Wilson (vol. 2, 1921) (cropped).jpg	John H. Wilson Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1928	January 1, 1929 – January 3, 1931 Template:Small
5	File:George F. Wright (vol. 2, 1921).jpg	George F. Wright Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Republican	1930 1932 1934	January 3, 1931 – July 2, 1938 Template:Small
6	File:Charles Crane (PNM-119-13027) (cropped).jpg	Charles Crane Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Republican	1938	July 15, 1938 – January 2, 1941 Template:Small
7	File:Lester Petrie (PNL-5-00138) (cropped).jpg	Lester Petrie Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1940 1942 1944 1946	January 2, 1941 – January 2, 1949 Template:Small
(3)	File:John H. Wilson (vol. 2, 1921) (cropped).jpg	John H. Wilson Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1948 1950 1952	January 2, 1949 – January 2, 1955 Template:Small
8	File:Neal Blaisdell, 1954.jpg	Neal Blaisdell Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Republican	1954 1956 1960 1964	January 2, 1955 – January 2, 1969 Template:Small
9	File:Frank Fasi, 1959.jpg	Frank Fasi Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1968 1972 1976	January 2, 1969 – January 2, 1981 Template:Small
10	File:Eileen Anderson, 1980.jpg	Eileen Anderson Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1980	January 2, 1981 – January 2, 1985 Template:Small
(9)	File:Frank Fasi, 1984.jpg	Frank Fasi Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Republican	1984 1988 1992	January 2, 1985 – September 17, 1994 Template:Small
11	File:Jeremy Harris, 2002 (cropped).jpg	Jeremy Harris Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	1994 1996 2000	September 18, 1994 – January 2, 2005 Template:Small
12	File:Mufi Hannemann (2829422273) (cropped).jpg	Mufi Hannemann Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	2004 2008	January 2, 2005 – July 20, 2010 Template:Small
–	File:Kirk Caldwell campaign announcement (cropped).jpg	Kirk Caldwell Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	—	July 20, 2010 – October 11, 2010 Template:Small
13	File:Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle at Rail Groundbreaking 2011-02-22 CROP (cropped).jpg	Peter Carlisle Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Independent	2010 sp	October 11, 2010 – January 2, 2013 Template:Small
14	File:Kirk Caldwell May 2012 (cropped).jpg	Kirk Caldwell Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Democratic	2012 2016	January 2, 2013 – January 2, 2021 Template:Small
15	File:2022-1026-smithsonian-apac-rick-blangiardi (cropped).jpg	Rick Blangiardi Template:Small	style="background: Template:Party color;"|	Independent	2020 2024	January 2, 2021 – present Template:Small

Notable candidates and acting mayors

• D. G. Anderson
• Duke Bainum
• Kirk Caldwell, acting mayor of Honolulu from July to October 2010
• Charles Djou
• Colleen Hanabusa
• Ben Lee
• Patsy Mink

Resources

• City & County of Honolulu
• Agencies and Departments

See also

• Timeline of Honolulu

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline