Hawaii State House District 46

Current seat holder: Amy Perruso (D).

Daniel Gabriel

Daniel Gabriel (Republican) Daniel Gabriel qualified with the Hawaii Office of Elections to appear on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot for House District 46.

Amy Perruso

Amy Perruso (Democratic) Amy Perruso was born in San Diego, California . She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California in 1990. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in 2013. Her career experience includes working as a legislator, and as a teacher with Mililani High School, Punahou School, Kapolei Middle School, and Highlands intermediate School. She also served as secretary-teacher of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and a member of Governor David Inge's Every Student Succeeds Act Team. She was elected to the Hawaii State House of Representatives in 2019. Perruso has been affiliated with the Wahiawā Lions Club, with the Central O'uhu Soroptimists, with the Wahiawā-Waialua Rotary Club, with the Hawaiian Civic Club of Wahiawā, with the Wahiawā Agricultural Association as a co-founder, and with the Civic Education Council as a founder. Born and raised on a ranch in the small agricultural town of Fallbrook, California, I am a longtime resident of beautiful Launani Valley and Wahiawa communities. A teacher at heart, my endeavor to educate our children has taken me around the world, from California to Shanghai to Finland and, finally, to Central O'ahu, where I taught social studies in the Hawai'i Department of Education for almost 20 years. I earned my BA from USC, completed graduate work at the University of Helsinki and doctoral work at UCLA, and wrote my dissertation on neoliberalism and public education in the Political Science at UH Mānoa. I was a Fulbright Scholar and a finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman National History Teacher of the Year Award. I served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, and as a member of Gov. David Ige's Every Student Succeeds Act Team, which crafted a blueprint for the future of Hawai'i's public schools. I am an active member of the Wahiawā Lions Club, the Central O'ahu Soroptimists, the Wahiawā-Waialua Rotary Club, the Hawaiian Civic Club of Wahiawā, and co-founded the Wahiawā Agricultural Association and the Civic Education Council. I enjoy surfing, reading, and spending time with my family.

Campaign site

“· Education: Our children are our future. Yet, they're often forced to endure overheated classrooms, decaying buildings, and a lack of extracurricular activities. Rather than developing creativity and critical thinking skills, they are subjected to hours of standardized testing. Their hardworking teachers take on second and third jobs because Hawai'i's teacher salaries rank last in the nation. ​.” (Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey)
“As Vice Chair of the House Education Committee, I worked hard to deliver the schools our keiki deserve by ensuring that every child is provided with a rich curriculum that includes arts and cultural content. To recruit and retain excellent educators, I have sponsored legislation that increases funding for public education.” (Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey)
“At this point, I am not considering running for Congress or the governorship. There is a great deal of important work that needs to be done at the level of the state legislature. As far as I am concerned, the most important changes can and should happen at the local level - hyper-localization is the most important antidote to our dangerous dependence on globalization.” (Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey)