Ed Case

Edward Espenett Case (born September 27, 1952) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician.

In 1970, he graduated from Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Kamuela.

After high school, Case traveled for a year in Australia, where he worked as a jackaroo on a New South Wales sheep station, and in New Zealand.

He then attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1975.

Case got his first taste of political life as a legislative assistant to Congressman and then Senator Spark Matsunaga from 1975 to 1978.

In 1981, Case graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco with a Juris Doctor.

From 1981 to 1982, Case served as law clerk to Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William S. Richardson.

From 1983 to 2002, he worked at the law firm Carlsmith Ball in Honolulu, where he became a partner in 1989, and served as managing partner from 1992 to 1994, when he was first elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives.

In 1985, he won his first election, to the Mānoa Neighborhood Board of Honolulu.

He became its chairman in 1987, a position he held until leaving the board in 1989.

In 1994, Case ran for Hawaii's 23rd House district.

He won the Democratic primary with 51% of the vote in a five-candidate field.

In the general election, he defeated Green party nominee Toni Worst 59%–41%.

Case served four two-year terms in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002, where he focused on basic change in Hawaii governance.

In 1996, he was reelected with 67% of the vote.

On January 21, 1997, in the House Judiciary Committee, Case cast the lone vote against advancing HB117, which would allow a referendum to effectively constitutionally ban gay marriage.

He and six others opposed the bill again in the full House vote.

In 1998, he was reelected to a third term with 70% of the vote.

When he was up for reelection in November 1998, he publicly opposed the referendum because, he said, "changing the Constitution would go against its intended purpose—protecting the rights of the minority against the will of the majority."

Leading up to the November election, polls consistently predicted that the measure would pass by 70–75%, a prediction that was accurate.

In 1999, after he led an effort to replace the State House leadership, his Democratic peers elected him Majority Leader.

A conservative Democrat by Hawaii standards, Case sought to change the way state government operated and repeatedly warned that Hawaii was not addressing long-term fiscal challenges.

In 2000, he was reelected to a fourth term unopposed.

On the last legislative day of 2000, he said in a floor speech: "If you cannot make those choices, please get out of the way, because you are just making it harder for the rest of us."

He represented the 2nd district, which covers the rest of the state, from 2002 to 2007.

A Blue Dog Democrat, Case first came to prominence in Hawaii as majority leader of the Hawaii State Legislature and in his 2002 campaign for governor of Hawaii.

He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002 in a special election to fill the seat of Patsy Mink, who died of pneumonia, Case represented Hawaii's 2nd congressional district until 2006, when he unsuccessfully challenged Daniel Akaka in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate.

Case resigned his partnership upon winning election to the United States Congress in 2002.

In 2007 he said he would work for the Honolulu-based law firm of Bays Deaver Lung Rose & Baba.

In 2010, Case was one of two Democratic candidates in the special election for Hawaii's 1st congressional district.

With the Democratic vote split, Republican Councilman Charles Djou's 39% of the vote earned him the seat.

Case ran again in the Democratic primary for the November general election, but suspended his campaign in May.

Colleen Hanabusa, Case's fellow Democrat in the special election, won the primary and the general election against Djou.

Case again ran for the Senate in 2012 after Akaka announced his retirement, but lost to Mazie Hirono.

In July 2013, Case announced that he was joining Outrigger Enterprises Group and that his political career was "likely" over.

In June 2018, Case announced he would run again in Hawaii's 1st congressional district.

He won the crowded Democratic primary election in August and the general election.

Since 2019, he has served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district, which covers the urban core of Honolulu.

He took office in January 2019.

Case was born in Hilo, the eldest of six children.