Saiki was born in Hilo, Hawai`i, on May 28, 1930. Saiki graduated from Hilo High School in 1948 and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 1952. Upon graduating from college, Saiki became a teacher at Punahou, Kaimuki Intermediate, and Kalani High schools. She also taught in Toledo, Ohio, when she and her husband, Stanley Saiki, moved there for his medical school residency. Saiki ran for office after establishing the teacher's chapter of the Hawaii Government Employees Association. Her fellow teachers encouraged her to run for office, which she did in 1968.
Political career
In 1968, Saiki joined the Hawai`i Republican Party and ran successfully for a seat in the Hawai`i State House of Representatives. In 1974, she moved to the Hawai`i State Senate where she served her district until 1982. A vacancy was created by U.S. Rep. Cecil Heftel's untimely leave from Congress, and on September 20, 1986, a special election was held. Saiki lost the special election but won a separate election sending her to Congress where she served two consecutive terms. With her election in 1986, she became the first Republican elected to represent Hawaii in the House of Representatives since its statehood. In 1988, she beat challenger Mary Bitterman, a Democrat and former head of Voice of America. Until the election of Charles Djou on May 22, 2010, Saiki was the only Republican to ever hold a House seat from the state of Hawaii and one of only two Republican Members of Congress to represent the state since it gained statehood. She is also the second woman to be elected to Congress from the state of Hawai`i. While in office, Saiki focused on education-related issues. She was a commissioner for the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education, and was a member of the Fund for the Improvement of Higher Education. Though fiscally conservative, she also pushed for the redress of Japanese Americans for their internment during World War II. In 1990, she lost a United States Senate race to Daniel Akaka, then was appointed Administrator of the Small Business Administration under President George H. W. Bush. In 1994, she lost a race for Governor of Hawai'i against Democratic challenger Ben Cayetano. Saiki subsequently chaired the Hawaii Presidential campaign of former New York MayorRudy Giuliani in 2008 and the 2010 and 2012 congressional campaigns of Charles Djou. In 2015 she was the chair of the Hawaii Republican Party.
