The race for Hawaii’s only open congressional seat will change, if Senate President Donna Mercado Kim makes good on her intentions to run.

Although Kim, 61, says she is still "doing due diligence" on a congressional campaign, it is expected that if she announces, it will be after the Oct. 28 special legislative session.

She will join a field of four other Democratic officeholders and one political newcomer. Already in the race are state Rep. K. Mark Takai, state Sen. Will Espero and City Councilmen Ikaika Anderson and Stanley Chang. Activist Kathryn Xian has also said she is running.

Of the lot, Kim is probably the only one who’s widely been heard of. That name recognition helps as the field grows more crowded.

"She is a very high-visibility political leader, especially when you look at the rest of the field, which you could say have been only half-way around the block," says retired University of Hawaii political scientist, Neal Milner.

Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District is open because the current occupant, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, 62, is running in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, against U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, 40.

One of the painful truths that state legislators have to learn when they try for higher office is that the "big fish in a little pond" syndrome is in operation in the Beretania Street Capitol fish pond.

Just because lobbyists, the governor and scores of assistants know your name, does not translate into anyone in the general public knowing who you are or caring about your career.

Kim brings a different dynamic to the race, keeping a successful high profile since she first entered politics in 1982, winning a seat from Kalihi in the state House. She moved to the City Council in 1985 and returned to the Legislature as a state senator in 2000.

Along the way, she became known as a tenacious legislative investigator, so much so that during a drawn-out 2008 probe into the $8.7 million state hydrogen investment fund, Gov. Linda Lingle asked then- Senate President Hanabusa to call off Kim’s investigation, calling it "a vendetta."

"She is a very high-visibility person and there is a bit of an edge to her," says Milner.

Almost a decade ago, it was Kim who led the charge against then-University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle, criticizing his extravagant, expensive style. Today, that same criticism is again following Dobelle as president of a small university in Massachusetts.

A year ago, Kim was the person in charge of another Senate panel investigating misuse of funds at the University of Hawaii. By the end of the investigation, UH President M.R.C. Greenwood decided to voluntarily retire.

As one legislative lobbyist says: "Kim has a long history of being a tough customer."

Kim, a businesswoman, is a strong, although conservative, Democrat who has a background that is a political boost. She was a cheerleader when she went to Farrington High School and graduated cum laude from Washington State University before returning to Hawaii to become a real estate agent and sales rep.

She has the "up by the bootstraps" image and now can pair it with being the leader of the Senate.

Of course, leading the Senate, which on any given day is divided into three of four Democratic factions, has its own perils.

For Kim to succeed further in politics, she will have to keep the Senate on track during both the 2013 special session and the 2014 regular session.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.