State House Rep. Daniel Holt resigned from his position Friday after accepting a new role as special assistant to the chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Holt, a Democrat, started serving the Liliha, Iwilei and Chinatown areas in 2016, though by then he was already familiar with the state Capitol.
Before becoming an elected official, he had held a number of positions, including as a bill researcher, legislative aide to the late Sen. Gilbert Kahele, and assistant sergeant-at-arms.
In his resignation speech on Friday during the House floor session, Holt said becoming a lawmaker wasn’t part of his plan.
"I started working at the Capitol in 2009 ... as session staff. I definitely never thought that it'd be down here on the floor. I remember once at the end of the first session, I would joke with one of the other staff members that 'Oh, I'm going to be on the Senate,' or 'You're going to be in the House,'" he said.
"My family has political history, but when I was growing up, I didn't ever think this was going to happen."
Holt's fellow representatives applauded him following his speech.
House Speaker Nadine Nakamura, in a written statement, said, "Representative Holt has an accomplished record of public service in the Legislature. He is most recently appreciated for his efforts as Co-Chair of the Native Hawaiian Caucus and his support in assisting nonprofits affected by federal cuts with Act 310 funds. We wish him success in his new role."
Holt's connection to the Legislature goes back even further than his own body of work.
His father, Milton Holt, was a senator and representative for the same areas from 1978 to 1996.
The younger Holt did recently announce that he was going to run for a state Senate seat this year, though it’s not clear he’s going to continue that campaign.
He starts with the DLNR on Tuesday.
