Northern Mariana Islands Delegate to Congress

Current Representative

What the Delegate Can and Cannot Do

Kimberlyn King-Hinds holds nearly every legislative power a House member has. The office introduces bills and amendments, serves on standing committees, votes in those committees, questions witnesses at hearings, and speaks and manages debate on the House floor. Rule III of the House rules gives delegates and the Resident Commissioner the same powers and privileges as members inside the Committee of the Whole and on the committees where they serve.

The limit is final passage. King-Hinds cannot vote when the full House decides whether a bill becomes law, and cannot vote for Speaker. The Committee of the Whole vote has been turned on and off as House majorities changed, and it was restored at the start of the 116th Congress in 2019. It carries a safeguard: if delegate votes decide a recorded vote in the Committee of the Whole, the committee rises and the House votes again without them.

Committee work is where the office has the most reach. For the Northern Marianas that runs through transportation and aviation policy, since the islands depend on air service, and through veterans’ programs and small business rules that apply differently across a scattered island economy.

Committee Assignments

In the 119th Congress King-Hinds serves on the Committee on Small Business, on its Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure and its Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access. She serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on the subcommittees for Aviation, for Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, and for Highways and Transit. She also serves on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, on the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and the Subcommittee on Health.

How Long the Northern Marianas Has Sent a Delegate

This is the newest delegate seat in the House. Congress created it in Title VII of Public Law 110-229, signed on May 8, 2008, and the first delegate was seated in January 2009. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan held the seat from 2009 until January 2025 and did not seek reelection in 2024. King-Hinds won that election and took office on January 3, 2025, in her first term. The Commonwealth had sent non-voting Resident Representatives to Washington since 1978, but those officials were not members of the House.

Population and Representation

The 2020 Census counted 47,329 people across Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and the northern islands. The Census Bureau does not run the American Community Survey in the island areas, so this is the most recent official federal count rather than a current-year estimate. Residents are U.S. citizens by birth under the 1976 Covenant that made the Northern Marianas a commonwealth in political union with the United States, and they have no voting member of Congress.

How the Delegate Is Elected

The Commonwealth elects its delegate at large, across all the islands, to a two year term beginning January 3. The seat is decided by a plurality of the votes cast. A majority requirement would apply only if the Commonwealth government established primary elections for the seat, which it has not. Candidates must be registered Commonwealth voters, U.S. citizens, at least 25 years old, and residents of the Commonwealth for at least seven years. The general election is scheduled for November 3, 2026, and candidate filing closed on August 5, 2026.

What is on the ballot nationally on November 3, 2026

Contact Your Representative

Sources

Officeholder, committee assignments, and office addresses come from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. The powers and limits of the office come from the Rules of the House of Representatives for the 119th Congress, Rule III. The rules for electing the delegate come from title 48, sections 1751 through 1757 of the U.S. Code. The seat was created by Public Law 110-229 of 2008. Population comes from the U.S. Census Bureau 2020 Island Areas Censuses. Filing and election dates and candidate qualifications come from the Commonwealth Election Commission. Checked August 12, 2026.