As Congresswoman Jill Tokuda sifted through a collection of plastic boxes neatly tucked away in a corner of her ground-floor office last week, she listed colleagues she intended to surprise with Hawaiian Host chocolates.

Her staff attempted to assist by searching through the boxes, albeit without much success. Like most staffers-turned-politicians, Tokuda is used to taking on these tasks herself.

Uncovering the familiar brown and yellow boxes, she turned around and explained with a grin, “It’s my mac nut diplomacy.”

The local charm offensive is both refreshing and traditional from the next-generation congresswoman. Her giving of omiyage echoes the legacy of the Japanese-American women who represented Hawaii in Congress before her. Meanwhile, a variety of lei and a list of “Ohana Rules,” including “always talk story,” “no be high maka maka” and “be aloha,” transport D.C. office visitors to Hawaii’s shores.

“When someone was visiting, they said they felt like they were at home when they came into our office. So I’m like, OK, that’s a high compliment to come here and feel like you’ve walked into Hawaii. So that’s our goal,”  Tokuda said, gesturing to the shave ice-shaped pillow that sits next to a “Make Ramen Not War” sign in her private office.

While it’s not a prerequisite, the congresswoman’s staff is mostly local-born, as evidenced by the ongoing public school versus private school rivalry that pervades the office. Those who aren’t from Hawaii feel a connection through friends or family. That connection is clearly valuable to Tokuda, whose own keen understanding of her district is on display in both her committees and conversations.

A Day in the Life

On April 16, navigating the maze of hallways, tunnels and subways that make up the U.S. Capitol Complex, I followed her from meeting to meeting and watched her highlight a wide range of local issues.

In a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Army’s 2025 budget, Tokuda raised concerns about a recent military.com article on child abuse incidents at military day care centers, including the Ford Island Child Development Center on Oahu.

Speaking to Christine Wormuth, secretary of the Army, Tokuda expressed her outrage at the Army’s inaction, stating, “This is a broken trust.” In response, Wormuth promised to work with Tokuda’s office to consider better standards, thresholds of action and parental notifications.

We’re a small state. We have a four-member delegation. We need friends. We need a lot of friends on all sides.

Congresswoman Jill Tokuda

Next the congresswoman spoke with a Maui lobbyist from the American Academy of Pediatrics about ensuring rural emergency rooms are capable of delivering pediatric care. Then, she moved to a discussion about eye care on Lanai and Molokai with the Hawaii Optometric Association.

Later, in an afternoon hearing on defense infrastructure, she asked the Department of the Air Force to consider building government housing for service members to alleviate the burden on the private housing inventory available to residents. She reminded the Department of Defense that it is an important partner in Maui’s recovery, and asked the military to reopen Kolekole Pass to allow first responders to evacuate Waianae residents in an emergency.

Tokuda’s district spans every island, and when asked how she keeps up with the diverse needs of each community, she said, “It’s about being present. That’s really important to me, and I wish I could be present everywhere all the time.”

While that’s impossible, her flight schedules reveal weekly trips to Hawaii except when congressional events keep her in Washington.

“When (House Speaker Kevin) McCarthy left, we went 10 weeks solid,” she said. “So we lost time.”

McCarthy’s initial speakership bid, his ouster and current Speaker Mike Johnson’s tenuous hold on power have been major sources of chaos during Tokuda’s first term. Before she was sworn into office, she cast her first vote, followed by 14 more, for Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as speaker while Republicans took 15 rounds of votes to coalesce around McCarthy.

National security and foreign wars have also dominated her time in Congress. While I visited, she took 10 floor votes, including voting yes for the Iran Sanctions Act, the Hold Iranian Leaders Accountable Act and the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act.

Last week, she voted in favor of aid to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific as well as sanctions, including the TikTok ban. In a break with the rest of Hawaii’s congressional delegation, she voted against funding to provide weapons for Israel.

Rural Health Care: A Unifying Issue

Asked about balancing national and local issues, Tokuda said, “I think it’s important to be tethered to both. We are here making decisions for the entire country, and in many cases, they have global impact. But at the end of the day, it always has to be about how does that touch back at home and somehow make life better or make life safer for the people in your community, in your district. So for myself, whether it’s Armed Services Committee or agriculture or other areas, there’s usually some nexus or tie back to home.”

Co-founding the Bipartisan Rural Health Caucus was one of Tokuda’s first attempts to connect Hawaii’s needs to other communities around the country. She leads the 58-members caucus alongside Republican Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee who, according to Tokuda, “agrees with me that access to healthcare and mental health services shouldn’t matter where you live.”

The caucus’s even partisan split means topics like abortion are non-starters, but issues like expanding the health workforce and alleviating the pressures on rural hospitals offer common ground.

Tokuda said, “Everyone’s suffering in red and blue states and purple states, and it’s about finding solutions for these things.”

Crossing the aisle was not a particularly necessary skill in the Hawaii State Senate. In her final term, she served in an all-Democratic body. So her new bipartisan efforts suggest she is adapting.

On the topic of current divisions within the Republican party, Tokuda said simply, “We’ve got to make sure that this is as much a teachable moment for us and a learning opportunity for us on what it’s gonna take to govern in what will inevitably be a close majority situation.”

“More importantly,” she said, “I think something I focus a little bit more on than most is how do you cross that aisle? How do you bridge the divide? Because the reality is we’re going to need some of them to get things done and make things work.”

“I can count many Republicans as good friends, and I think we’ve just got to keep building on that.”

Rep. Jill Tokuda

So far, Tokuda’s efforts to build relationships across the aisle appear successful. In addition to forming the rural health caucus, she has gained Republican support to take the first steps toward designating Lahaina as a national heritage site, which would provide additional access to federal funding.

She has also worked with Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who represents Paradise, California, the location of California’s deadliest wildfire in 2018. They have visited each other’s districts to gain a greater understanding of how to recover, rebuild and prevent devastating fires.

“I feel very good, in my first year and a half, that I can count many Republicans as good friends, and I think we’ve just got to keep building on that, especially for Hawaii. We’re a small state. We have a four-member delegation. We need friends. We need a lot of friends on all sides.”

That statement alone reveals a rare blend of political acumen and pragmatism, which can get hidden behind her warm and casual manner. From her candid remarks on missing local rice and Marukai bentos to her fondness for D.C.’s Bonchon Korean fried chicken, Tokuda is instantly relatable and disarming — useful traits in the cold arena of national politics.