Two Korean Americans in Hawaii won legislative seats in the November election.
Sylvia Eun Jung Luke was reelected to the State House of Representatives for District 26 and Donna Mercado Kim won the State Senate seat for District 15.
Democratic candidate Luke, 33, won 55 percent of the votes, defeating Republican David Pang who garnered 40 percent of the votes.
Born in Korea, Luke came to Hawaii at age 8. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii and a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law.
She began her career as an attorney with the firm of Cronin Fried Sekiya Kekina & Fairbanks.
State Senator Kim is a veteran politician who had served for 15 years as a member of the Honolulu City Council before running for the Senate. She started her political career in 1982 when she was elected to the State House of Representatives.
Kim went to public schools in Hawaii, and graduated from Washington State University.