Harris won a special election to become mayor of Honolulu outright in September 1994. He was re-elected in 1996 and 2000, appealing mostly to Chinese American, Filipino American and Japanese American communities. During his tenure, Honolulu residents voted to limit mayors to two four-year terms and thus made Harris ineligible for re-election in 2004. Former members of the Honolulu City Council Duke Bainum and Mufi Hannemann and former mayor Frank F. Fasi ran to succeed Harris, with Hannemann ultimately the victor.