Mike Honda

His grandparents were from Kumamoto prefecture and immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s, and both of his parents were born in California.

When he was one year old, he and his family were sent to Camp Amache, a Japanese American internment camp in southeastern Colorado.

Michael Makoto Honda (born June 27, 1941) is an American politician and former educator.

A third-generation Japanese American ("sansei"), Makoto Honda was born in 1941 in Walnut Grove, California, the son of Fusako (Tanouye) and Giichi Honda.

His father, Giichi (nicknamed "Byron"), was one of 6000 Military Intelligence Service (MIS) agents, although the family was subjected to internment.

In 1953 his family returned to California, where they became strawberry sharecroppers in Blossom Valley in San Jose.

Honda started at Andrew P. Hill High School, and then transferred to and graduated from San Josė High Academy.

He entered San Josė State University, but interrupted his studies from 1965 to 1967 to serve in the United States Peace Corps in El Salvador, where he learned to speak Spanish.

He returned to San Jose State, where in 1968 he received a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and Spanish.

Initially involved in education in California, he first became active in politics in 1971, when then San Jose mayor Norman Mineta appointed Honda to the city's Planning Commission.

Mineta later joined both the

Bush and Clinton cabinets.

In 1971, San Jose Mayor Norman Mineta appointed Honda to the city's Planning Commission.

He earned a master's degree in education from San Jose State in 1974.

In his 30-year career as an educator, Honda was a science teacher, a principal at two public schools, a school board member, and he conducted educational research at Stanford University.

In 1981, Honda was elected to the San Jose Unified School Board.

After holding other positions, Honda was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1990, and to the California State Assembly in 1996, where he served until 2001.

He was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1990, and to the California State Assembly in 1996, where he served until 2001.

In the 2000 United States House of Representatives elections, Honda won the Democratic nomination for the 15th district, which had once been represented by Norm Mineta.

In 2000, Honda won by a 12-point margin.

A member of the Democratic Party, he served in Congress from 2001 to 2017.

From 2001 to 2007 Honda served on the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and was the ranking member of its Energy Subcommittee from 2005 to 2007.

He also served on the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 2001 to 2007.

From 2001 to 2003, and again from 2011 to 2013, Honda also was appointed to serve on the House Budget Committee.

He remained the incumbent in the resultant elections of 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012.

In November 2003, Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe appointed Honda as deputy chair of the DNC.

In November 2003, chairman of the Democratic National Committee Terry McAuliffe appointed Honda as deputy chair of the DNC.

In February 2005, Honda was elected a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee under the chairmanship of Howard Dean.

In February 2005, Honda was elected a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee under the chairmanship of Howard Dean.

In 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Honda to the United States House Committee on Appropriations.

In 2009, Honda was reelected for a second term as DNC vice chair, under the chairmanship of former Virginia governor Tim Kaine; he served in this role until 2013.

In 2009, Honda was reelected for a second term as DNC vice chair, under the chairmanship of former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine; he served in this role until 2013.

From 2011 to 2013, he was ranking member of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee.

Due to redistricting after the 2010 US census, Honda began representing the California's 17th congressional district at the beginning of the 113th Congress on January 3, 2013.

The district incorporates Silicon Valley, which is the only Asian American-majority district in the continental United States.

The district encompasses all or part of the cities of Cupertino, Fremont, Milpitas, Newark, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Sunnyvale.

He won again in 2014.

Honda became the subject of an ethics investigation by the United States House Committee on Ethics in 2015 for the alleged use of taxpayer resources to bolster his 2014 re-election campaign.

He was defeated for re-election in 2016 by fellow Democrat Ro Khanna.

He lost the election for California's 17th congressional district election in 2016 to Ro Khanna.