Doug Chin

Douglas S. Chin (born July 21, 1966) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii from February to December 2018.

Chin started his legal career at the Honolulu prosecutor’s office in 1998, where he tried approximately fifty jury cases to verdict.

Chin obtained guilty verdicts in notorious cases including a brutal rape-murder committed by the victim’s neighbor and a serial rapist of Honolulu prostitutes.

He was recognized with a "Top Gun" award for winning the most trials in a calendar year out of 100 Honolulu prosecutors.

In 2006, Chin was appointed chief deputy prosecutor and later acting prosecutor in 2010.

From 2010 to 2013, under Honolulu mayor Peter B. Carlisle, Chin served as managing director for the City and County of Honolulu.

Chin was directly responsible for 23 municipal government and public safety agencies and approximately 10,000 employees with an annual operating budget of $2 billion.

In 2011, Chin oversaw city operations during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Honolulu, the first time the summit of nations was held in the United States.

From 2013 to 2015, Chin was a law partner and eventual managing partner at Carlsmith Ball, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the state of Hawai‘i.

His areas of practice included renewable energy and clean technology projects, land use and development projects and commercial litigation.

In August 2013, Chin registered as a lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America (know known as CoreCivic), and subsequently successfully lobbied to house Hawaiian prisoners in Arizona.

A member of the Democratic Party, Chin previously was the 14th Attorney General of Hawaii.

Governor David Ige nominated Chin for Attorney General of Hawaii in January 2015.

The Hawaii Senate was unanimous in its confirmation of Chin on March 12, 2015.

On December 18, 2017, Chin announced his intent to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Chin also led a suit on behalf of the State of Hawaii against the federal government that, on March 15, 2017, blocked implementation of President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13780 entitled, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States".

Chin filed a motion asking for clarification on what a bona fide relationship with someone in the United States means.

This was in leading the fight against the travel ban imposed by president Donald Trump, after the Supreme Court allowed it to go into partial effect in late June 2017.

An expedited process was requested for the clarification.

On December 18, 2017, Chin announced he would run for Hawaii's 1st congressional district in 2018 to succeed the retiring Colleen Hanabusa.

In February 2018, Chin became Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii after the resignation of Shan Tsutsui and after two others in the line of succession declined the office.

In August 2018, he lost the Congressional seat's Democratic nomination to Ed Case.

Douglas S. Chin was born in Seattle to Chinese immigrant parents, his mother a librarian, and his father a civil engineer.

He grew up studying violin and piano.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University and his Juris Doctor from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

In January 2018, he announced he would resign as Attorney General effective March 15, 2018 in order to focus on his congressional campaign.

On January 31, 2018, Lieutenant Governor Shan Tsutsui resigned from his office.

By law, the attorney general is third in the line of succession to the office of lieutenant governor, but Hawaii Senate president Ron Kouchi and Hawaii House of Representatives Speaker Scott Saiki turned down the job.

Chin continued to serve as Lieutenant Governor while running for Congress, and lost the August 2018 Democratic primary to Ed Case.

Chin received the endorsement of End Citizens United in his Congressional campaign and signed a pledge to reject corporate political action committee contributions.

Chin previously indicated support for enacting the Democracy for All Amendment to U.S. Constitution to overturn Supreme Court decisions – including Citizens United, Buckley v. Valeo, and McCutcheon v. FEC – which Chin said "have given the largest corporations and the wealthiest individuals more influence than ever in our political system.

Chin supports the merits of a universal healthcare system.

He also supports giving Medicare additional powers to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors.

Chin has been a strong advocate for preserving Hawai‘i's natural resources and protecting the environment.

He supports Hawai‘i's plan to make a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045, and he signed a pledge for Hawai‘i to uphold the commitments in the Paris Climate Agreement despite Trump’s plans to withdraw from it.

Chin opposed Scott Pruitt’s EPA nomination and resisted the current administration’s attempts to roll back the Clean Water Act.

Chin has supported preservation movements, such as those with the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and protecting coastlines along O‘ahu’s North Shore.

In Congress, Chin wants to expand funding to Hawaii for sustainable source expansion, protect parks from fracking and drilling, and work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Chin received the endorsement of Ocean Champions, an organization dedicated to protecting the world's oceans, in his Congressional campaign.

As Attorney General, Chin led 18 states and the District of Columbia asking Congress to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgender service members to include transgender protections in the National Defense Authorization Act.