Keiko Bonk

(1954-)

American activist and politician

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Keiko Cecilia Bonk (born 1954) is an American artist, musician and politician from Hawaii. Bonk co-founded the Hawaii Green Party and was the first person in North America elected to a partisan level office as a member of the Green Party of the United States. In the US most local elected offices are nonpartisan, meaning the candidate is not running as a member of a political party. State and federal offices are partisan, meaning that the candidates represent political parties. In Hawaii local government, such as county government, traditionally involved declaring your political party. Other people who called themselves "Greens" had been elected to local government offices in the United states prior to Keiko Bonk, but they were not representing a legally established political party. In the United States, it is very difficult to win an election in a partisan race if the candidate does not run as a Democrat or Republican. Keiko Bonk was the first person in the United States to run as a representative of the Green Party and beat a Republican and Democrat.