Charles Djou

Charles Djou

Republican Party

Prior offices

U.S. House Hawaii District 1

Successor: Colleen Hanabusa

Predecessor: Neil Abercrombie

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 4, 2014

Education

Bachelor's

University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce

Law

University of Southern California, Gould School of Law

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army Reserve

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Personal website

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Charles Djou was a candidate for the mayor of Honolulu in Hawaii. He was defeated in the general election on November 8, 2016.

He was a 2014 Republican candidate seeking election to the U.S. House to represent the 1st Congressional District of Hawaii. He was defeated by Mark Takai (D) in the general election on November 4, 2014.

He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 1st District of Hawaii. Djou was a 2012 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 1st Congressional District of Hawaii. Djou won the nomination after winning the Republican primary on August 11, 2012, but lost in the general election to incumbent Colleen Hanabusa.

Djou previously filled Neil Abercrombie's empty seat after Abercrombie resigned on February 28, 2010. The seat became vacant, effective March 1, 2010, until May 22, 2010, when Djou won it through a special three-way election after Abercrombie resigned to run for governor.

Djou was succeeded by Colleen Hanabusa in 2011, after she defeated him in the Nov. 2010 general election. Djou ran unsuccessfully to reclaim the seat from Hanabusa in 2012.

Biography

Email [email protected] to notify us of updates to this biography.

Djou received a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce and a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School. He joined the United States Army Reserve in 2001. His professional experience includes working as an attorney and as an adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii–West Oahu, the University of Hawaii Law School, and Hawaii Pacific University.

Elections

2016

See also: Municipal elections in Honolulu, Hawaii (2016)

The city of Honolulu, Hawaii, held elections for mayor and city council on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on August 13, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 7, 2016. Five of the nine city council seats were up for election. Incumbent Kirk Caldwell defeated Charles Djou in the Mayor of Honolulu general election.

Mayor of Honolulu, General Election, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kirk Caldwell Incumbent	52.16%	147,941
Charles Djou	47.84%	135,710
Total Votes		283,651
Source: State of Hawaii Office of Elections, "General Election Official Results 2016", accessed November 28, 2016

Mayor of Honolulu, Primary Election, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kirk Caldwell Incumbent	44.61%	74,062
Charles Djou	43.69%	72,532
Peter Carlisle	9.36%	15,539
Lillian Lai Lam Wang Hong	0.69%	1,140
Ernest Caravalho	0.47%	781
Ronald Hochuli	0.38%	635
Kurt Baker	0.22%	360
Lawrence Friedman	0.21%	346
Mike Powers	0.19%	317
Tim Garry	0.13%	210
Zachary Burd	0.06%	97
Total Votes		166,019
Source: Hawaii.gov, "Primary Election Official Results," accessed November 28, 2016

2014

See also: Hawaii's 1st Congressional District elections, 2014

Djou ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Hawaii's 1st District. Djou won the Republican nomination in the primary on August 9, 2014. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

U.S. House, Hawaii District 1 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Mark Takai	51.2%	93,390
	Republican	Charles Djou	47.4%	86,454
Total Votes				179,844
Source: Hawaii Office of Elections

U.S. House, Hawaii District 1 Republican Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Charles Djou	96.4%	20,802
Allan Levene	3.6%	777
Total Votes		21,579
Source: Hawaii Office of Elections

2012

See also: Hawaii's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012

Djou ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. House to represent Hawaii's 1st District. Djou defeated Charles Amsterdam and John Giuffre in the Republican primary. He was defeated by incumbent Colleen Hanabusa (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.

U.S. House, Hawaii District 1 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Colleen Hanabusa Incumbent	53.5%	116,505
	Republican	Charles Djou	44.5%	96,824
	n/a	Blank Votes	2.1%	4,467
Total Votes				217,796
Source: Hawaii Office of Elections "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

U.S. House, Hawaii, District 1 Republican Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Charles Djou	95.7%	25,984
Charles Amsterdam	2.9%	799
John Giuffre	1.4%	376
Total Votes		27,159

2010

Charles Djou faced Colleen Hanabusa on November 2, 2010, in the election. Hanabusa won the election by 10,000 votes.

Campaign finance summary

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Campaign themes

2016

Djou's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Homelessness

• Excerpt: "This homeless crisis is a human tragedy, a community concern and an economic disaster for our city. The current administration has let this crisis fester for too long through a lack of strong leadership and planning. I fully support public housing programs and I back the expansion of low-income housing. Still, it’s important that we recognize that these programs alone are simply not enough to fix homelessness in Honolulu."

Rail

• Excerpt: "As Mayor, I will veto any further tax increases for the rail system. We need to make this project work with the money we have, not the unlimited blank check Caldwell has given to project developers."

Infrastructure

• Excerpt: "We deserve an honest government that deals with our infrastructure issues properly. That’s why as a city councilmember, I championed bringing our sewer system into compliance with the Clean Water Act. That’s why I am proud to have brought curbside recycling to Oahu. That’s why I’m running for mayor to ensure that we invest in our public infrastructure and our community can be assured that our aging sewer system is properly maintained."

Ethics

• Excerpt: "I believe that the personal integrity of elected officials is fundamental to our democracy. All major public policy goals start with an open and honest government."

Environment and energy

• Excerpt: "I have been an outspoken advocate for recycling and energy conservation."
• Excerpt: "I am committed to a long-term energy strategy for Hawai‘i that brings us independence from foreign oil resources."

2012

On his campaign website Djou featured 10 leading issues. They were:

• Economy: Excerpt:"Before small businesses, which are responsible for at least 65% of all new jobs, can begin hiring new workers, they need economic certainty. Certainty doesn’t come from higher taxes. I have never voted for a tax increase, and will continue to make lowering taxes my priority. Low taxes, fiscal responsibility in Washington, and tax relief for families and small businesses will stimulate the economy and fuel the recovery."

• Budget and Spending: Excerpt: "Here are some ways I have been fighting to bring fiscal responsibility and accountability to Washington: H. J. Res. 1- Balanced Budget Resolution (co-sponsored), H.R. 1294- Congressional Accountability and Line-Item Veto Act of 2009 (co-sponsored), H.R. 5454- Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010 (co-sponsored), and H.R. 5258- Earmark Transparency Act of 2010 (co-sponsored).

• Healthcare: Excerpt: "I support market-based healthcare reforms that work. What is needed is tort reform. I have long supported a limit on non-economic damages for medical malpractice. Tort reform is long over due and I will fight for a $250,000 cap or three times economic damages for medical malpractice awards to help reduce the need for "defensive" medicine and bring down the cost of malpractice insurance. I also support allowing the sale of inter-state health insurance. Just two carriers provide over 90% of all health insurance in Hawaii, which reduces competition. Finally, we need to rethink the way we tax health insurance. The current structure of health insurance in the U.S. is an anachronism dating back to WWII. Rather than have corporations as the sole providers of health insurance, we should instead allow for individual tax deduction of health insurance and make the health insurance market a more "normal" individual choice."

• Ethics: Excerpt: "All major public policy goals start with an open and honest government. After the series of scandals that tarnished the Honolulu Liquor Commission, I called for the wholesale reform and improved oversight of the Commission. When several Liquor Commission inspectors were convicted of bribery charges, I successfully obtained an audit of the Liquor Commission and called for the firing of the Liquor Commission Administrator and Chief Investigator. After months of intense work, my efforts helped secure the Liquor Commission Administrator’s removal and the voluntary departure of the Chief Investigator. Today this agency is rebuilding the trust that it lost. I also successfully fought to give the Ethics Commission the power to issue civil fines for violations of the ethics code and championed stronger ethics rules that have reduced conflicts of interest in Honolulu."

• National Security: Excerpt "I support a national plan to protect America’s infrastructure and keep our communities safe. That plan begins with increased security measures for our airports, ports and land borders."

• Environment and Energy: Excerpt: "I have been an outspoken advocate for recycling and energy conservation. I successfully fought to bring curbside recycling to Oahu and have called for reducing the City’s energy use. I will continue those efforts as your Congressman. I am committed to a long-term energy strategy for America and Hawai‘i that brings us independence from foreign oil resources. I will fight for federal support of Hawai‘i’s alternative energy projects and will only support environmentally-sound and responsible efforts to enlarge America’s domestic supply of oil, natural gas and nuclear power."

• Education: "We need a reformed education system that puts children first. I believe we must turn education right-side up by making principals and teachers accountable for our children’s education and empowering parental involvement in schools. Principals in turn must have the resources they need, including adequate funding and the ability to remove underperforming teachers. The cost of the Educational bureaucracies must be reduced to insure that education dollars are spent in the classroom and teachers have the tools they need to educate our children, including continuing teacher education and training. That’s how good school systems work. We cannot continue to limit our children’s potential in school systems that don’t teach."

• Faith and Family: Excerpt: "As a husband and father of three, I know that strong families and a diverse community form the bedrock of a strong Hawai`i and strong America."

• Social Security: Excerpt: "Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs need to be protected, not abused and exploited. Frequent borrowing from social security to pay for today’s “priorities” has bankrupted the program. With unemployment at a record high and the cost of healthcare rising, the last thing our country needs is a tax hike or a cut to entitlements earned by senior citizens. We must keep the promises that have been made to our seniors. We cannot let Social Security go bankrupt. In this decisive time, we need strong leadership that will promote fiscal responsibility so that we can ensure these programs will be viable for future generations of Americans."

• Second Amendment: Excerpt: "I believe that our country’s constitution very clearly gives individual citizens the right to bear and keep arms. Throughout my ten years in elected office, I have always supported and will continue to support safe, legal and responsible ownership of guns."

Opposed state bailout

In a press release on August 10, 2010, Rep. Djou explained that he opposes the latest bailout bill to be considered by Congress.

Djou said:

"This legislation affects areas in need of real reform: from our public school system, to the federal Medicaid program to tax policy. But instead of moving us closer to reform, this bill only entrenches the status quo and avoids making any tough, substantive decisions."

Weekly traveling

Djou flew 9,000 miles each week round-trip flight between Hawaii and Washington, D.C. while in office. ABC reported that Djou faced a tighter-than-expected race with Democratic challenger Colleen Hanabusa in the home state of President Obama, which he won by more than 70 percent in 2008.

See also

• U.S. House of Representatives
• United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii, 2012
• Governor of Hawaii Neil Abercrombie (D)
• Colleen Hanabusa

External links

• Djou's website with the House
• Office of the Clerk announcing Abercrombie's vacancy
• Campaign Website
• Twitter Account

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Neil Abercrombie (D)	U.S. House of Representatives 20 - present	Succeeded by NA