Suzuki served in the
House of Representatives in the
National Diet for two terms, between 2000 and 2005, as a member of the
Democratic Party. He was then elected as the mayor of
Hamamatsu in 2007. After serving four terms in office, he declined to run for re-election in the
2023 Hamamatsu mayoral election. Suzuki was elected governor in the
2024 Shizuoka Prefecture gubernatorial election as an independent endorsed by the
Constitutional Democratic Party and the
Democratic Party for the People. == Notes ==