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Meet Brenton
Supporting Farmers & Local Communities
In 2022, within weeks of being elected, Senator Brenton Awa intervened between the state and its plans to force Waiahole farmers and residents to pay rent hikes of 550% for their state land leases. The state later negotiated agreeable terms with lessees, keeping residents in their homes and ensuring the future of farming in the valley.
In 2025 Senator Awa helped secure a 65 year land lease for nonprofit Hui O Hau’ula to establish the Ko’olauloa Resiliency Hub on State Department of Land and Natural Resources property.
Protecting Water, Food Security & the ʻĀina
Within his first year in office, Senator Awa used media and relationships to solve a more than decade long water crisis on Oahu’s North Shore. Hawaii’s Dept. of Transportation in coordination with the U.S. Army repaired a faulty pipeline at Dillingham Airfield within a month of the Senator bringing attention to the issue. The water pipeline had been leaking more than one million gallons of drinking water per month.
In 2023, the Senator founded the State’s first roadside Food Forest and with community support, planted more than 100 ʻulu, mountain apple, and banana trees along a half mile stretch of Kahekili Highway in Kahalu’u. The site will provide free food for our communities. Senator Awa spends up to six days per week watering trees at either site.
In 2024, Senator Awa created a second roadside Food Forest along Kamehameha Highway in Hale’iwa. Community members planted more than 60 dwarf coconut trees, along with ulu, and lilikoi. The project aims to become a coconut nursery where a new generation of trees can be grown to help restore niu that have been wiped out by Coconut Rhino Beetle in our communities.
Legislative Action & Policy Leadership
In 2025, Senator Awa’s office launched “Genki Kahalu’u,” providing area elementary schools a hands on project using “effective microbes” in Genki Balls in an effort to help find ways to restore water quality in one of Oahu’s most polluted waterways. According to data from the Surfrider Foundation, water testing in Kahalu’u revealed bacteria levels eight times higher than those in the Ala Wai Canal. The project in Kahalu’u basin near Kahalu’u Regional Park is scheduled to run through January 2026.
In 2025 the Senator passed SB1582 through the Hawai’i Senate to designate the coconut tree as an official staple food source, to protect Hawai’i’s iconic resource from chemical injections used in treatment and to control (CRB).
The Senator also leveraged and passed SB242 through the Hawai’i Senate to ban foreign ownership of agricultural land in Hawaii. This marked the first time a foreign ownership land ban bill passed through any house in the Hawaii legislature.
In July, Senator Awa met with Federal officials at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture regarding the issue. A month later, the administration announced it would work to ban foreign ownership of agricultural-lands across all states.
Community Leadership, Culture & Democracy
On 10 days’ notice, Senator Awa and community organized a homecoming concert for Iam Tongi on his way to becoming the first ever American Idol winner from Hawaii. According to the show, roughly 12,000 people showed up to Turtle Bay to watch Iam perform his first live concert.
Senator Awa has a track record of promoting transparency, advocating for term limits, election integrity, good government practices, common sense policy, protecting ohana, ‘aina, and our constitutional rights.
On election night 2024, Senator Awa highlighted election accessibility issues live in the media. Awa had been the last voter in line at Kapolei Hale where residents waited for an average six hours before the opportunity to vote. The Senator will introduce legislation in 2026 to address election day access.
Independent Leadership
Senator Awa has earned a reputation as a maverick in Hawai’i’s Democrat dominated legislature. During his first two years in office, he cast more than 1,100 “no” votes and was the lone dissent on nearly 10% of all bills passed, unparalleled in recent history according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser who referred to him as a “minority of one.”
