Senator Dru Kanuha

In 2018, Senator Dru Mamo Kanuha was elected to the Hawai‘i State Senate to represent Kona and Ka‘ū.

Over the course of three decades, Senator Kanuha has served tireless years as a public servant and advocate for The Betty Kanuha Foundation, Kai ‘Ōpua Canoe Club, Kealakehe High School Waveriders Against Drugs, and other numerous community organizations. Later in Senator Kanuha’s political career, he served on the National Association of Counties and Hawai‘i State Association of Counties. In 2012, Senator Kanuha was elected to represent Kona on the Hawai‘i County Council and, thereafter, served two re-elected terms. In 2014, Senator Kanuha was elected by his County Council peers as the first-ever Council Chair from Kona.

With deep roots on the Big Island, Senator Kanuha was born in Kealakekua and raised near the shore in the ahupua‘a of Hōlualoa. Senator Kanuha’s father, Jerome Kanuha, a well-known carpenter, has lineage that goes back many generations in the Keōpū ahupua‘a. Senator Kanuha’s mother, Debbie Mogel, born in Pennsylvania, moved to Rodondo, California, where she spent most of her childhood before moving to Kona more than 40 years ago. Senator Kanuha has only one sibling, his sister, Lelia Kanuha, one brother-in-law Aaron, and two nephews, Kamoa and Kahana.

Senator Kanuha attended Moku‘aikaua Preschool, Kahakai Elementary, and Kealakehe Intermediate and High Schools. He went on to attend the University of San Diego, earning his degree in Political Science and Business Administration.