Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), who has supported credit unions and has been a big booster of improving financial literacy, announced yesterday that he won’t run for re-election next year.
Akaka has sponsored legislation to provide grants to credit unions and other financial institutions to reach out to the underserved. In addition, he has championed efforts to increase financial literacy programs in schools and elsewhere.
Akaka is a member of the Banking Committee and has been in the Senate since 1990. He received $9,000 from CUNA’s political action committee when he ran for re-election in 2006.
He is the sixth Democratic senator to announce he won’t run for re-election since last year. Two Republicans have also said they are leaving.
