“It’s the economy,” Kimberlyn King-Hinds said when asked what her top priority will be once she is sworn in as the CNMI’s new delegate to the U.S Congress in January 2025.
King-Hinds, a Republican, garnered 4,931 votes to defeat her opponents Edwin Propst (Democrat, 4,067 votes), John Oliver Gonzales (Independent, 2,282 votes), James Rayphand (Independent, 665 votes), and Liana Hofschneider (Independent, 280 votes).
In an interview on Wednesday, King-Hinds said: “First of all, I just want to thank everybody who came out to vote. Elections are a way in which we as a community determine the direction [that we’d like to take], and when I started off this journey, I started writing down the priorities. One of the things that I shared with the community that I wanted to focus on was the economy. I also came out and said that it was going to be a three-pronged approach. The first is to restore the tourism industry; second, to immediately work on the CW situation — which is about to end here in 2029; and third, to work on trying to improve the cost of living by addressing the utilities.”
She said her work is starting now with dialogues and conversations with federal partners.
“The governor also reached out and gave his congratulations,” she said, referring to Governor Arnold I. Palacios. “And you know, I told him that we’re going to have to sit down to discuss what his priorities are and how [the delegate’s] position can assist him … accomplish some of those priorities, and to also assist with the follow-up for the 902 consultations, and make sure that it stays a hot topic agenda item that needs to be addressed. Because I do believe that those are very critical issues that need to be addressed, and you know the election is over. We all work for the people; we have to put politics aside, and I’m reaching across all the aisles to be able to have those conversations,” King-Hinds said.
The Palacios administration has initiated 902 consultations with the U.S government to discuss the following:
–Financial assistance to the CNMI as provided by Article 7 of the Covenant.
–Tourism and transportation issues.
–Access to skilled labour.
King-Hinds, an attorney and former board chair of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, is seeking the reinstatement of Annex VI of the U.S-China Civil Air Transport Agreement, which exempted the CNMI from a federal order that limits the number of round-trip flights between the U.S and China.
Stating that China was the islands’ second largest tourism market, the CNMI Senate, outgoing U.S Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, CPA and the local business community have asked the federal government to reinstate Annex VI.
As for the governor, the Pacific Island Times quoted him as saying, “I will not write or sign that letter [regarding the reinstatement of Annex VI] until I get the opportunity to sit down directly across the table with the [Federal Aviation Administration], the Department of Transportation, or even the State Department.”
King-Hinds on Wednesday said she will work for the reinstatement of Annex VI because “we need to open up all markets.”
Noting the competitive nature of the tourism industry, King-Hinds also acknowledged the need to diversify the CNMI economy. “The tourism industry has been the bread basket of the CNMI and I do agree that we also need to diversify the economy, but we can’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater and say, ‘Oh, we’re just going to focus on what’s happening now with the military.’ Or ‘Let’s wait and you know, find or create a new industry.’ We gotta fix and remove the barriers right now that’s stopping our tourism industry from fully thriving, and that’s the focus, and I’m not waiting until I get sworn in to start working on that, she said.