Tavares was born in 1943 in Hana, Hawaii, in eastern Maui, to Hannibal and Harriet Tavares.[3] Her father, Hannibal Tavares, served as the mayor of Maui from 1979 until 1991, the longest tenure of any Maui mayor to date.[4][5][6][7] Tavares is the descendant of Japanese and Portuguese immigrants who settled in Hawaii.[7] Her mother, Harriet, is of Japanese descent and her father, Hannibal Tavares, was of Portuguese descent.[7]
She attended both Kaunoa Elementary School and Maul High School, before graduating from St Anthony High School.[3] Tavares earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1967.[1] She also received a fifth-year professional diploma in education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1970.[1]
Tavares worked in Hawaiian public schools as a teacher, counselor and athletic director from 1967 to 1982.[1][3] She was the program director of the Maui Community College (MCC) Upward Bound program from 1983 to 1989.[1][3]
Tavares served as the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation for Maui County from 1989 to 1995.[1][3]
Tavares was first elected to the Maui County Council in 1996. She served on the Council, representing the Upcountry Seat, from 1997 until 2006.[1] She was elected to the Maui County Council in five separate elections.[1]
Tavares was elected mayor of Maui in the 2006 election. She defeated incumbent Mayor Alan Arakawa and was sworn into office on January 2, 2007.[1]
Tavares ran for reelection to a second four-year term in 2010.[1] The primary election was held on September 18. Tavares narrowly won, taking 7,307 votes, or 25.4% of the total.[8] She defeated her nearest opponent, former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, by 268 votes.[8] Tavares and Arakawa automatically advanced to the general election as the two top vote-getters in the primary.[8] Electric contractor Randy Piltz placed fourth with 5,602 votes (19.4%); Chris Hart placed fifth with 3,035 (10.5%); Maui Council member Sol Kaho'ohalahala came in sixth place with 2,912 votes (10.1%); businessman Marc Hodges placed seventh with 1,761 votes (6.1%).[8] Five other candidates earned a combined 1.5% of the vote.[8]
Tavares won 11 of Maui's 39 election precincts in the 2010 primary.[8] Most of these precincts were in Central Maui.[8] Former Mayor Alan Arakawa won 23 precincts in South Maui and West Maui.[8]
Tavares faced Arakawa in the general election on November 2, 2010.[8] The election was a rematch of the 2006 Maui mayoral election, in which Tavares defeated Arakawa.[8][9][10] Tavares did not fare as well in the rematch, becoming one of the only Democrats in Hawaii to lose reelection to a Republican.[2]