Sonny Ganaden
Ernesto Montemayor "Sonny" Ganaden is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives' 30th district from 2020 to 2024.
Background and education
Ernesto Montemayor Ganaden is a second generation Filipino American. Ganaden received his degree in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2006, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's William S. Richardson School of Law.Legal and academic career
As an attorney, Ganaden defended the rights of Native Hawaiian elders who were arrested for protesting the construction of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope. In 2013, Ganaden was the leader writer on the Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force Report, which concluded that Native Hawaiians were disproportionately and unfairly overrepresented in Hawaiian prisons. Ganaden has criticized the existence of private prisons and argued that in "communities where basic human needs are met, crime is rare".Ganaden was previously an instructor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, teaching in the departments of American studies and ethnic studies. Ganaden contributed an essay to Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’i, where he wrote about King Kamehameha I's impact on modern Hawaiian law.
Hawaii House of Representatives
Elections
In 2018, Ganaden ran to represent District 30 in of the Hawaii House of Representatives, where he faced incumbent Romeo Munoz Cachola in the Democratic primary. Cachola narrowly defeated Ganaden by a 51-vote margin.In 2020, Ganaden ran for the seat once again, defeating incumbent Cachola in the Democratic primary and defeating Republican Tess Quillingking in the general election. During the 2020 campaign, Ganaden spoke out against proposed austerity measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.