Patsy Takemoto Mink, (born December 6, 1927, Paia, Hawaii—died September 8, 2002, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.), American politician who was the first Asian American woman, and the second woman from Hawaii, to be elected to the U.S. Congress. A 1951 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, she was also the first Japanese American to practice law in Hawaii. She was elected to the Hawaii Territorial Legislature in 1956 and the Hawaii Senate in 1958. In 1964 she won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she remained until 1977. After losing a bid for a U.S. Senate seat