Nadine Nakamura

Nadine Nakamura (Democratic Party) is a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, representing District 15. She assumed office on November 8, 2022. Her current term ends on November 3, 2026.

Nakamura became Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives in 2025, the first woman to serve in this position.^[1]

Nakamura was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[2] She earned a bachelor's degree in Public Affairs and Urban Planning from the University of Southern California in 1983. She earned her master's in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 1987.^[3] Before entering politics, she worked as a planner for various organizations, including the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the Honolulu Department of Transportation and the Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation.^[3] She also founded NKN Project Planning, her business where she worked as a planning consultant.^[3]

Nakamura ran for a seat on the Kauai County Council in 2010. The top seven candidates were elected to the seat, and Nakamura placed second out of the top seven. In 2012, she was re-elected, placing first among the winning candidates.^[2] During her tenure, she served as vice chair of the council and as chair of the body's Planning Committee.^[4] She resigned in 2013 to become Managing Director for Kauai County under Mayor Bernard Carvalho (D) from 2013 to 2016.^[5]^[6]

Nakamura was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives in 2016. In 2021, she was chair of the Housing Committee. During the 2023-2024 session, Nakamura served as state House majority leader.^[7] During her tenure as majority leader, she proposed using $300 million of the state's budget surplus to construct more affordable rental homes.^[8] $280 million was allocated towards rental housing in the budget passed by the legislature that year.^[9] On November 7, 2024, Nakamura was named the next speaker of the Hawaii House.^[6]

Hawaii Pacific University Prof. John Hart said that Nakamura was similar to her predecessor Scott Saiki (D) and said, "She is going to be politically similar to her predecessor... I don’t think we’re going to see a change there."^[10] Honolulu Civil Beat's Kevin Dayton wrote that Saiki was "generally regarded as a middle-of-the road Democrat."^[10] Nakamura said she wanted to focus on housing in 2025: "I came to this position with a background in affordable housing, and I feel like there’s so much more we need to do."^[10] In February 2025, she proposed a bill to establish a study group to transition the state legislature to a full-time legislature.^[11]

Biography

Nadina Nakamura lives in Kapa'a, Hawaii. Nakamura earned a bachelor's degree in public affairs and urban planning from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Her career experience includes owning NKN Project Planning and working as the managing director of the County of Kaua'i and a project coordinator with Pacific Housing Assistance Corp. Nakamura served as the vice chair of the Hawai`i Tourism Authority and the State Housing Development Corporation of Hawai'i.^[12]^[13]^[14]

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Nakamura was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Nakamura was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Nakamura was assigned to the following committees:

Finance Committee
Human Services & Homelessness Committee, Vice Chair
Health Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Hawaii committee assignments, 2017
• Finance
• Housing, Vice chair
• Transportation

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 15

Incumbent Nadine Nakamura defeated David Moranz in the general election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 15 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nadine Nakamura (D)	71.2	6,656
	Submit photo	David Moranz (R)	28.8	2,692

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 9,348
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 15

Incumbent Nadine Nakamura advanced from the Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 15 on August 10, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nadine Nakamura	100.0	2,617

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,617
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 15

David Moranz advanced from the Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 15 on August 10, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	David Moranz	100.0	444

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 444
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Nakamura in this election.