Sonny Ganaden

As an attorney, Ganaden defended the rights of Native Hawaiian elders who were arrested for protesting the construction of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope.^[4] In 2013, Ganaden was the leader writer on the Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force Report,^[5] which concluded that Native Hawaiians were disproportionately and unfairly overrepresented in Hawaiian prisons.^[6] Ganaden has criticized the existence of private prisons and argued that in "communities where basic human needs are met, crime is rare".^[7]

Ganaden was previously an instructor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, teaching in the departments of American studies and ethnic studies.^[8] Ganaden contributed an essay to Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’i, where he wrote about King Kamehameha I's impact on modern Hawaiian law.^[9]

In 2018, Ganaden ran to represent District 30 in of the Hawaii House of Representatives, where he faced incumbent Romeo Munoz Cachola in the Democratic primary.^[10] Cachola narrowly defeated Ganaden by a 51-vote margin.^[11]

In 2020, Ganaden ran for the seat once again, defeating incumbent Cachola in the Democratic primary^[12] and defeating Republican Tess Quillingking in the general election.^[13] During the 2020 campaign, Ganaden spoke out against proposed austerity measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[14]

In 2024, Ganaden lost renomination in the primary election to Democratic challenger Shirley Ann Templo.^[15]

In office, Ganaden has called for the United States Navy to be investigated for potentially misleading regulators about a fuel release into Pearl Harbor, which is part of Ganaden's district.^[16] Ganaden was a member of the Progressive Legislative Caucus, a coalition of left-wing members of the Hawaii Legislature.^[17]