Patrick Pihana Branco is the current State Representative for Hawaiʻi House District 50 (Kailua and Kāne‘ohe Bay). He was born and raised in Kailua, and spent his summers at his great-great grandfather’s small farm in Kurtistown on Hawaiʻi island.

Patrick graduated from the Kamehameha Schools-Kapālama and received a full scholarship to Hawaiʻi Pacific University, where he served as Student Body President. After graduating, he earned a Congressman Charles B. Rangel Fellowship that fully funded his Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. While studying at SAIS, he earned fellowships at the United States Embassy in the Republic of Korea, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Drawn to public service, Patrick joined the U.S. Foreign Service as a commissioned Diplomat in 2012. Around the world, Patrick dedicated himself to promoting the values he grew up with in Hawaiʻi: aloha, mālama, and kuleana. He served tours in Colombia, Pakistan, the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Secretary of State’s Operations Center, and Venezuela. 

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick put his crisis management skills to work to keep our community safe. Together with his mom and tūtū, he made 500 kūpuna kits filled with gloves, hand sanitizer, soup, apple sauce, toilet paper, and other supplies to fill the need for essential supplies within our most vulnerable population—our kūpuna. He and his ʻohana also sewed over 4,000 masks that they gave away to community members in need for free. 

In the State Legislature, Patrick authored the bill which banned the possession of ghost guns in Hawaiʻi, and the resolution to have the State of Hawaiʻi formally apologize for its 90-year ban of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in Hawaiʻi’s public schools. Additionally, Branco worked to pass the reestablishment of the Green Jobs Youth Corps that provides work and training to young adults to protect and sustain natural resources and habitats. He also worked to help secure $600 million in funding for the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, and helped to shed light on the state taking more than $1.4 million from keiki living in foster care in the form of social security payments and survivor’s benefits.

Patrick is running for Congress to help Hawaiʻi meet this critical moment in our history. He has a plan to diversify Hawaiʻi’s economy beyond just tourism by creating good-paying jobs in clean energy and cybersecurity, and boosting federal support for Hawai’i’s farmers to reduce Hawai’i’s food supply dependence on the continent. He will also work to bring federal funding back to Hawai’i to build housing and infrastructure that will allow people born in Hawai’i to be able to afford to stay in Hawai’i. Hawai’i’s new challenges require bold new leaders. Patrick believes that if we work together in service of our communities, we can honor our past, and deliver for our future.