The Mayor of Hawaii is the chief executive officer

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of the County of Hawaii

Hawaii County, Hawaii

Hawaii County is a county located in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands. It is coterminous with the Island of Hawaii, often called the "Big Island" to distinguish it from the state as a whole. As of the 2010 Census the population was 185,079. The county seat is Hilo. There are no...

 in the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. He or she has municipal jurisdiction over the Big Island of Hawaii

Hawaii (island)

The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...

. The current mayor is Billy Kenoi. The Mayor of Hawaii County is the successor of the Royal Governors of Hawaii Island of the Kingdom of Hawaii

Kingdom of Hawaii

The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...

.

History

Hawaii County began electing a mayor in 1968 when the present form of charter government was instituted. For most of the 20th century elected members of the Board of Supervisors, precursor to the Hawaii County Council, chose the chairman, and that chairman was essentially the chief operating officer of Hawaii County. That changed in 1964 a year after Act 73 of the 1963 Legislature which enabled counties to draft their own charters. Former Honolulu deputy County Corporation Counsel Shunichi Kimura was elected the last County Chairman in 1964 and the County elected its first mayor in 1968. Bruce McCall (1976), Megumi Kon (1984) and Larry Tanimoto (1990) all filled out the last few months of their predecessor's terms, in the case of Tanimoto, for Bernard Akana, who died of cancer less than two years into his term. Lorraine Inouye then won a special election to serve out Akana's last two years.

Past Mayors

Term in Office	Name	Party	Other notes
1968–May 1974	Shunichi Kimura	Democrat Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...	Resigned to become a 3rd Circuit Court judge.
May 1974 - 1974	Bruce McCall	Democrat	Kimura's managing director; became mayor after his resignation.
1974–1984	Herbert Matayoshi Herbert Matayoshi Herbert Tatsuo Matayoshi was an American politician and businessman. Matayoshi served as the Mayor of Hawaii County from 1974 to 1984. He was the third Mayor of Hawaii County, as well as its second elected Mayor overall...	Democrat	Resigned to run for Hawaii State Senate
1984	Megumi Kon	Democrat	Matayoshi's managing director; became mayor after his resignation
1984–1988	Dante Keala Carpenter	Democrat	Lost reelection to Akana in 1999
1988–April 12, 1990	Bernard Akana Bernard Akana Bernard Akana was an American engineer and politician. He served as the Mayor of Hawaii County from 1988 until his death on April 12, 1990.Akana worked for the Hawaii Electric Light Company as a design planner before his retirement...	Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...	Died of cancer while in office
April 12, 1990 - 1990	Larry Tanimoto Larry Tanimoto Larry Tanimoto is an American administrator and politician. Tanimoto became the Mayor of Hawaii County in 1990 following the death of Mayor Bernard Akana....	Republican	Bernard Akana's managing director after Susan Labrenz left the post earlier; became mayor after Akana's death for eight months until the special election to fill Akana's term.
1990–December 7, 1992	Lorraine Rodero Inouye	Democrat	Won special election held eight months after Akana's death.
December 7, 1992 – December 2000	Stephen Kei Yamashiro Stephen K. Yamashiro Stephen Kei Yamashiro was an American politician and lawyer who served as the former Mayor of Hawaii County from 1992 to 2000. Yamashiro served on the Hawaii County council from 1976 to 1990, including eleven years as the council's chairman...	Democrat
December 2000 – December 1, 2008	Harry Kim Harry Kim (politician) Harry Kim is a former mayor of Hawaii County, Hawaii. Hawaii County is the government of Hawaii island, known as the Big Island. He was elected in 2000, and served until 2008.- Life :...	Republican and unaffiliated	In the 2004 elections, local laws were changed so mayoral candidates were without party affiliations.
December 1, 2008–Incumbent	Billy Kenoi