The Republican candidate for Congress, Kimberlyn King-Hinds, 3rd left, with Sen. Karl Rosario King-Nabors, Rep. Patrick San Nicolas and Tinian Municipal Council members Joseph Santos, Esteban Cabrera and Ana San Nicolas at the Commonwealth Election Commission on Aug. 2, 2024. All won on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.
Kimberlyn King-Hinds, Tinian candidates and supporters gather for a group photo at the Commonwealth Election Commission on Friday morning.
REPUBLICAN Kimberlyn King-Hinds, who is running for the U.S. Congress, and other Tinian hopefuls officially filed their candidacies at the Commonwealth Election Commission on Friday morning.
King-Hinds, a lawyer and former board chair of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, said she is excited and at the same time nervous “given the responsibility of the delegate office in helping people.”
“Every day, as I go out and knock on doors and see the state and quality of life of community members who are often unheard from, and I hear their burdens, it is not lost on me that I’m now stepping up to the plate to help them with those responsibilities. This is a serious responsibility, and I don’t take any of it for granted. I’m ready to work,” she said.
“When you get elected to this office, it is not about party affiliations, it is about the whole CNMI.
“Yes, I am a Republican Party candidate, but this is about the whole CNMI,” she added. “This election is about choice: whether we’re going to continue with the same path and continue to do the same thing and see the same results or we all level up together and, instead of fighting against one another, we fight for each other and work towards a goal, and the goal right now is to improve the quality of life of our people.”
Besides King-Hinds, Tinian Sen. Karl Rosario King-Nabors and Tinian Rep. Patrick San Nicolas also officially filed their candidacies on Friday.
Joining them are Tinian Municipal Council members Joseph Santos, Ana San Nicolas, and Esteban Cabrera, who are seeking reelection.
King-Hinds noted that Tinian Republican Party candidates are running unopposed.
“That speaks volumes about the work that had been put into addressing the need of that community,” she said. “I want to take that same spirit of collaboration and unity, that one-team mentality for the CNMI. We are one team fighting for the same thing and that is all of us have the same opportunity whether you are Chamorro, Refaluwasch, Filipino, or from the Federated States of Micronesia — we all deserve a better chance, we all deserve the same opportunities and that is what this election is all about.”
NMI Republican Party President Diego T. Benavente said the GOP’s Saipan candidates will be “officially filing on Monday morning.”
“I’m glad to see people come out to support the Tinian candidates,” he added. “This is what Kimberlyn brings, Commonwealth-wide. Tinian continues to be Republican all the way because of its party unity.”
Also running for the U.S. Congress are House Floor Leader Edwin Propst of the Democratic Party; freelance business consultant and grants writer John Oliver Delos Reyes Bolis Gonzales, independent; and Chamorro activist Liana S. Hofschneider, independent.
Jim Rayphand, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation director, has indicated that he may run for Congress.
