11 Progressive Women Gearing Up to Take the 2018 Elections by Storm

Hawaiian Senator Mazie Hirono's moving plea during the Senate debate on health care, during which she shared her own struggle with Stage 4 kidney cancer and called for empathy, introduced her to many Americans for the first time.

But the politician — a daughter of Japanese immigrants — has been a political force for more than 20 years. She's running for reelection, putting Trump's "antiwoman, anti-immigrant" agenda squarely in her crosshairs and working to defend reproductive rights.