Ailani Hudson

Ailani Tulsi Hudson (born April 12, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as a U.S. Senator from the Southwest from 1995 to 2003. A Republican, Hudson also served as the 78th United States Attorney General from 1993 to 1995 and as the 5th Governor of Hawaii from 1990 to 1993.

Hudson was nominated to serve as attorney general on December 14, 1992, and has served as acting attorney general since Harvey Jones took office on January 20, 1993. She is the first woman in U.S. history to serve as attorney general, as well as the first Pacific Islander in U.S. history to serve in the Cabinet.

After being defeated in a Senate election by Lucas Gardner in 1992, Hudson was elected to the Senate in the 1994 midterms, defeating Democratic incumbent Ivor Reid. Upon taking office, she became the first Pacific Islander in U.S. history to serve in the Senate. She became the Southwest's senior senator on October 16, 1999, upon Gardner's resignation and the subsequent appointment of Jay Kingston.

Hudson ran for a second term in the Senate in 2002 but dropped out of the race following a leadership mishap within the Republican Party and conceded the election to Michael Benson. She was succeeded by Benson on January 3, 2003.