Tarnas first served as the State Representative for Kohala and Kona from 1994-1998.
[3] After a 20 year break from politics, he won the 7th district seat by defeating incumbent Democrat Cindy Evans in a primary election, going on to win the general election.
[5] He has since won the Democratic primary and general elections in 2020 and 2022, chairing the Water, Land & Hawaiian Affairs Committee from 2021-2022.
Tarnas holds a master's degree in marine affairs from the University of Washington (1985) and a bachelor's degree in political science from Kalamazoo College (1982).
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