Representative Clift Tsuji was first elected in 2004.  Born and raised in the Big Island's plantation town of Papaikou, Representative Tsuji is a 1959 graduate of Hilo High School and completed his post-secondary degrees at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Washington, Pacific Coast Banking School. His two sons, Ashley Allen and Ryan Kalei, are graduates of Waiakea High School in Hilo.