Ed Case on the Record
Want to know what Ed Case has done to hurt Hawaiʻi? Read on…
Restricting Women and Others from Voting
Ed Case voted for the Republican-sponsored SAVE Act.
The SAVE Act creates a barrier to voting by requiring anyone who changes their name for marriage or other reasons to present a birth certificate or passport when registering to vote. Although research by non-partisan, reputable organizations has established that widespread voter fraud does not exist, and even though it is already a crime, Ed Case claims he wants to solve this non-existent problem by making anyone registering to vote prove their citizenship.
The Save Act would affect an estimated 69 million women and others who have changed their names and now must document their birth names when they register to vote. The paperwork and expense involved creates an unnecessary burden for those having to prove their citizenship, as several studies have shown. Transgender or other name-changed individuals are in danger of being disenfranchised, along with voters affected by disasters or displacement whose documents are lost or misplaced, making it difficult to obtain proof of who they are.
Learn More
• The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is a Trick
• Rep. Ed Case backs GOP-led bill requiring citizenship proof to vote
What Voters Say
“You need to stand firm with the Democrats and stand up to Republicans trying to erode our democracy. The era of bipartisan cooperation is over. We must do everything to fight this immoral Trump regime, which is eroding immigrant rights, due process, climate/environmental progress, women’s rights, and taking from the poor to give to billionaires!“
Stood Against Affordability for Working Families
Ed Case and his “Unbreakable Nine” Blue Dog cronies helped derail President Biden’s original Build Back Better Act that would have helped families with several impactful social service and affordability measures, including universal childcare and preschool. Instead, Case demanded the House pass a modified bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which eliminated the social service and healthcare programs contained in the BBBA. Case and his coalition of conservative Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi, stating they “will not consider voting for a budget resolution until the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the IRA) passes the House and is signed into law.”
By insisting on the IRA, instead of voting for President Biden’s BBBA, he sacrificed a range of social service and affordability measures. The BBBA would have taken 278,000 children in Hawaiʻi out of poverty; provided Hawai‘i with $1.4 billion for affordable housing; established universal childcare; funded pre-K school for the 83,000 children under age six in Hawaiʻi; provided paid family and medical leave to 75 percent of the workers (508,000 workers) in Hawaiʻi who do not currently have it. Case chose to abandon the following:
- Paid family & medical leave (4 weeks) Up to four weeks of paid leave for caregiving/medical needs (birth of a child, personal illness, caring for a sick family member, etc.).
- Universal pre-K + major child care help Universal, free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds and major child-care affordability provisions (often summarized as capping family child-care costs).
- Expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) extension Extending/expanding the CTC (a centerpiece for many progressives to replace the 2021 monthly CTC payments).
- Big affordable-housing investments Substantial housing investments (building affordable units, public-housing repairs, vouchers, including senior-focused housing).
- Home- and community-based services (HCBS) / long-term care expansion Major expansion of funding for Medicaid home- and community-based care—a long-running progressive priority tied to disability policy, aging in place, caregiver support, and workforce pay.
- Home- and community-based services (HCBS) / long-term care expansion Major expansion of funding for Medicaid home- and community-based care—a long-running progressive priority tied to disability policy, aging in place, caregiver support, and workforce pay.
Learn More
• Case Teams Up With Moderates To Put The Brakes On $3.5 Trillion Budget Deal
• Hawai‘i Democrats: Rep. Case Does Not Reflect Party’s Values And Principles
• Congressman Ed Case Disagrees With House Speaker’s Move on Infrastructure
• Teachers disheartened over loss of child tax credit
• 10 million children will fall back into poverty when the enhanced child tax credit ends
• Rep. Ed Case backs GOP-led bill requiring citizenship proof to vote
What Voters Say
“What was once the middle class is now the underclass. Most of us support fully socialized healthcare of the same quality you enjoy. We need the minimum wage to triple so people can survive and maybe have a little dignity. We need strong gun control so schools aren’t murder prisons. Women need you to make pregnancy safe again (by reinstating Roe v. Wade), or many of them simply won’t risk having children. We need a full-on Green New Deal including defunding all highway expansions and refocusing on public transit, or we’re cooked. Bring back the 95% top tax bracket for both individuals and corporations. Tax wealth itself!”
“The issue of affordability for the working class is not going away – people are struggling, unable to enjoy their lives and their families, incurring stress that leads to health problems and a lowered life expectancy, while watching the wealthy class flaunt their affluence (ball rooms, bathroom renovations, tax evasion, crypto scams) and we are all sick of it. We are also watching the pillaging of our very own planet at such a rate that scientists say is bordering on irreparable. Most citizens have simple (and deliverable!) desires: good wages, affordable housing, food stability, health care, and a healthy environment to enjoy. It feels like the government no longer works for us.”
Answers To Billionaires, Dark-Money PACs, Defense Manufacturers And Big Corporations
For the past seven years, Case has accepted the majority of his campaign contributions from out-of-state interests rather than those concerned about Hawai‘i’s future.
Case’s campaign contributions tell a different story from the claims he made regarding the For the People Act of 2019, which he co-sponsored. Had it passed, the Act would have overridden the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision, and in his words, “fix our broken political system so that our democracy truly works for all citizens and not the monied few.” However, his donors are, in fact, members of the “monied few.” Large donors ($250 or more) and PACs ($5,000) dwarf his small donors (under $200) as seen below.
Case’s donation totals from 2018 through September* 2025:
Money from PACs: $1,789,330
Money from Large Donors: $2,230,662
TOTAL: $4,019,992
Money from Small Donors: $128,409
Small donors represent barely 3% of Case’s donations.
*information regarding the last fiscal quarter of 2025 is not yet available from the Federal Elections Commission website.
Even since his first term, Case has favored the wealthy and voted in favor of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA). This bill, primarily helping the wealthy, significantly eased restrictions of U.S. bankruptcy law, including the repeal of the Estate Tax, which primarily benefits the wealthy.
Learn More
• Hawaii Rep. Ed Case Raised 99% Of Campaign Money From PAC
• Case May Not Always Vote With Dems, But His Fundraising Is Going Just Fine
• Chamber of Commerce runs ads for Ed Case
What Voters Say
“Stop taking money from corporations and working for the 1%. You work for us.“
Refused To Defend Hawaiʻi From ICE
Ed Case refused to join his colleagues in the Hawai‘i congressional delegation and justified abusive ICE tactics in Hawai’i. He would not sign the letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that stated ICE agents are “creating fear and terrorizing communities” in Hawai’i. He recently (January 2026) also refused to join his Hawai‘i colleague in the House, Rep. Jill Tokuda, in Democratic initiative to impeach Kristi Noem for enabling criminal and violent behavior by ICE and Border Patrol agents against residents of blue states. In addition, when confronted by a constituent about ICE’s acting unlawfully and using excessive force and the need to cut the agency’s budget to rein them in, Case responded weakly, “While we can improve ICE, I do not believe that cutting funding for ICE is the right solution to our immigration issues.”
Case acted as though ICE behavior is merely a border security issue, not an invasion by masked, unaccountable Gestapo-like paramilitary force, using violence and excessive measures to abuse immigrants and U.S. citizens alike. Instead, Case appears to consider ICE agents as just normal law enforcement officers doing their job. He defended his refusal to co-sign the letter saying, “I do not believe the answer to major issues with our current immigration system is to fail to enforce current law…to prevent illegal immigration.”
Learn More
• Hawai‘i delegation divided over letter condemning ICE
• As Immigrant Arrests Rise, Not All Hawaiʻi Political Leaders Condemn ICE Tactics
• Chamber of Commerce runs ads for Ed Case
What Voters Say
“Why aren’t you talking about the abuse of immigrants and citizens by ICE and the border patrol and Stephen Miller and stopping them from destroying our country? What the hell are you doing to fight back???? Why aren’t you showing up in person here in Hawaii with us in the streets????? Publicly stand up for the rule of law.”
“You have not made any statements against ICE and how they are kidnapping people and I have not seen you in the detention center here in Honolulu making sure people have rights and are being treated properly. ICE is racial profiling and it needs to stop. We are living in a horrible time and he needs to realize it and stand up for the people he represents”
Read how Ed Case defends his inaction to constituents
Tried To Unseat Revered US Senator Akaka
Breaking with Hawai’i political norms, Case attempted to defeat our first Native Hawaiian Senator and elder statesman, Daniel Akaka, in the 2006 U.S. Senate race.
Case’s challenge was not based on Akaka’s policy positions, but because the advancement of Case’s political career was more important than the advantages Senator Akaka’s wisdom and seniority provided to Hawai‘i in Congress. In their only debate, Senator Akaka several times brought experience and seniority into the conversation (he was 82). Case at one point retorted, “This is not about age. This is about reality. This is about transition.”
The ILWU endorsed Sen. Akaka and issued a statement, saying, “In 2005, Ed Case voted five times to support business against working people. Ed Case voted to cut funds to OSHA, which protects our occupational safety and health. Ed Case voted to prevent companies from being sued in state court for wage and hour violations…”
Mahealani Wendt, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., says Case’s decision to challenge Akaka was a slap in the face to the Hawaiian people. “We’re very proud that we have a senior statesperson holding national office,” she says. “When the situation is created that he would be unceremoniously removed, unceremoniously meaning not of his choosing, that is so insulting. He has served well, and I just don’t see any reason to subject him to that indignity.”
Case, at 53 years old, said that he wanted to transition away from the “old” power structure of the Hawai’i Democratic Party (that is, liberal Senators Inouye and Akaka), which was responsible for taking Hawai’i from a white Republican oligarchy to a democracy that represented the state’s diversity. Case lost the election but ran for the Senate again in 2012 (after Akaka formally retired), losing to progressive champion Mazie Hirono in the primary. Now, Ed Case (at 73) is fighting to keep a younger, more progressive, generation from representing Hawai’i.
Learn More
• Brash, young and restless, Case seeks to upend Akaka
• ILWU: What’s at stake in Akaka vs Case
What Voters Say
“You challenged the great Senator Akaka when he was at his most vulnerable, showing that your own ambition matters more to you than the seniority and stability he provided for our islands. That was the day you lost the trust of the grassroots.”
“Ed Case’s challenge to Dan Akaka was a brazen act of ambition. He didn’t care about the ‘Aloha’ way of doing things; he only cared about his own career. We haven’t forgotten that he tried to push out a man who spent his life fighting for Native Hawaiians.“
Voted To Designate Non-Profits Against Trump As “Terrorist-Supporting Organizations”
By supporting the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties of American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495), Ed Case voted to allow Trump’s Treasury Secretary to arbitrarily designate a tax-exempt organization as a terrorist-supporting organization.
H.R. 9495 undermines Freedom of Speech, and had it passed the Senate, Trump could have declared a non-profit he did not like of supporting terrorism then strip its federal funding, tax-exempt status, and effectively shut it down. There are more than 10,000 non-profit organizations in Hawaiʻi, including schools and hospitals, that might be designated as terrorist organizations. Close to 75,000 local people are employed by these non-profits.
In addition, the “terrorist-supporting organization” would discourage private-sector donors from supporting them. Not only civil and civil liberties organizations would have been affected, but also colleges, unions, law firms and others with a tax-exempt status. There would be no due process (i.e., no court challenge prior to the designation) for those so designated. And although organizations could appeal, the Treasury Secretary would have the final say.
Even though the bill failed to pass the Senate, Trump used its concepts as a basis for his recent (September) National Security Presidential Memo 7, which weaponizes the Treasury Dept., the IRS and the National Security Joint Task Force to achieve the goals of HR 9495. NSPM-7 is already being used to persecute groups supporting immigrants’ rights and opposing the methods used by ICE. The Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) has made hundreds of arrests, many among protestors affiliated with non-profits.
One difference between the two is that H.R. 9495 authorizes the Treasury Secretary to designate a nonprofit as a ‘terrorist supporting organization’ for tax purposes, whereas NSPM-7 authorizes the Attorney General to recommend that a group/entity merits designation as a “domestic terrorist organization” and submit that list to the President who can approve the recommendation, which would allow the Treasury Dept. and DOJ to impose a variety of criminal and tax-related consequences.
Learn More
• Hawai’i ACLU Weighs in on HR 9495
• How NSPM-7 Seeks to Use “Domestic Terrorism” to Target Nonprofits and Activists
What Voters Say
“Stop colluding with the MAGA GOP and start working for the people you represent. We are in a fight to protect our democracy from a dictator. This is no longer party politics. It’s a fight for our lives. Your vote for the SAVE act undermined our voting rights. Your votes (three times) for HR9495 put all our essential public service groups and NGOs in danger of being attacked and dismantled.“
Voted To Honor Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Of Racism, Misogyny, Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Speech and to Censure Rep. Al Green’s Speaking Truth to Trump
Rep. Case voted in favor of H.R.719, honoring the right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk and in favor of H.R.189 – Censuring Representative Al Green of Texas for telling Trump that he had no mandate to dismantle the government and that he was unfit.
On the Charlie Kirk resolution, most Democrats voted either “nay” or “present” or didn’t vote. Many Democrats who voted “present” or didn’t vote, including Rep. Jill Tokuda, believed the resolution’s language was too politicized and divisive but felt voting “nay” might imply they condoned political violence. Voting “present” avoided a tacit endorsement of Kirk’s hate speech against people of color, independent women and those who identify as LGBTQ+. Indivisible Hawai‘i believes Case’s decision to vote “yea” elevated a high-profile misogynistic, gay-bashing racist and was unfitting for a member of Congress, especially one from multicultural Hawai’i.
On the resolution to censure Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who stood during the Presidential Address to Congress and told Trump, who was proposing cuts to social services and health programs, that he had no mandate to do that and called Trump “unfit.” Green later explained, “The president said he has a mandate, and I was making it clear to him that he has no mandate to cut Medicaid,” Case said he voted to censure Green “…not because I disagree with what he said but because we must respect the institution.”
However, Case did nothing to condemn Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert for similar behavior as they repeatedly heckled former President Joe Biden during his Congressional addresses.