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Joy A. San Buenaventura
Joy A. San Buenaventura
	San Buenaventura in 2020
Member of the Hawaii Senate; from the 2nd district
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; November 3, 2020
Preceded by	Russell Ruderman
Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives; from the 4th district
	In office; November 4, 2014 – November 3, 2020
Preceded by	Faye Hanohano
Succeeded by	Greggor Ilagan
Personal details
Born	1959 (age 65–66); Manila, Philippines
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Sheldon
Alma mater	University of Nevada, Las Vegas (B.S., mathematics); University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D.)
Profession	attorney

Joy A. San Buenaventura (born 1959) is an American Democratic politician from Hawaii. She represented District 4 in the Hawaii House of Representatives^[1]^[2] and is currently a member of the Hawaii Senate from the 2nd district.^[3]

Political career

San Buenaventura first entered the Hawaii political scene when she ran for the District 4 Democratic nomination for the Hawaii House of Representatives. The Democratic primary was a crowded one that included four challengers, including San Buenaventura, and incumbent representative Faye Hanohano, who had held the seat since 2006. San Buenaventura emerged as the only challenger to top Hanohano, and won the primary carrying 43.4% of the vote.^[4] In the general election, she faced Republican nominee Gary Thomas, whom she defeated by 43 points.^[5] She assumed office in the House in January 2015.

San Buenaventura opted to run for reelection to a second term in 2016, and faced no opposition from fellow Democrats. She advanced automatically to the general election, where she carried 75.5% of the vote against nonpartisan Luana Jones and Constitution Party candidate Moke Stephens.^[6] In 2018, San Buenaventura was elected to a third term in the House after she won the primary with no opposition and was later declared the winner of the race after the general election was cancelled. San Buenaventura was Majority Whip, Chair of the House Human Services and Homelessness Committee, and Vice-chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

In May 2020, San Buenaventura announced that she would run for the District 2 seat in the Hawaii Senate, which was being vacated by outgoing Senator Russell Ruderman.^[7]^[8] She defeated Democratic challenger Smiley Burrows in the August 8 primary, carrying 78.7% of the vote, and advanced to the general election in November to face Aloha ʻĀina Party candidate Ron Ka-Ipo.^[3] San Buenaventura is currently the Chair of the Senate Committee on Human Services, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, and the Committee on Health.

Electoral history

Hawaii House of Representatives

**Hawaii House of Representatives, District 4**
Year	Candidate	Votes	Pct	Candidate	Votes	Pct	Candidate	Votes	Pct	Candidate	Votes	Pct	Candidate	Votes	Pct
2014 Democratic Primary	Joy San Buenaventura	1,628	43.4%	Faye Hanohano (inc.)	766	20.4%	Brian F. Jordan	549	14.6%	Leilani Bronson-Crelly	503	13.4%	Julia K. Peleiholani	304	8.1%
2014 General Election	Joy San Buenaventura	4,337	71.6%	Gary Thomas	1,719	28.4%
2016 General Election	Joy San Buenaventura (inc.)	5,846	75.5%	Luana Jones	1,247	16.1%	Moke Stephens	648	8.4%
2018 General Election	Joy San Buenaventura (inc.)	3,919	100.0%