Kymberly Pine

Kymberly Marcos Pine (born September 8, 1970) is an American politician and Democrat who served two terms on the Honolulu City Council representing District 1 from 2013 to 2021.

She was the Chair of the Council Committee on Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Prior to being elected to the City Council, she served as a Representative to the State House of Representatives for four terms.

She was the chief of staff for Representative David Pendleton from 1997 to 2001.

Pine graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000 with a degree in English.

She was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

Pine served as the Director of the Hawaii House of Representatives Minority Research Office (2002–2004).

Pine was elected to the State House of Representatives in 2004 to represent district 43, defeating an incumbent with about 60% of the vote.

District 43 then covered the Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, and Puʻuloa areas.

She served in the state house from 2004 to 2012 and was the first Republican to be elected to this seat since Hawaiʻi's statehood.

In 2007, Pine was named one of the nation's 100 most influential half-Filipino women by the Filipina Women's Network.

From 2010 to 2012 she served as the House Minority floor leader.

One of Pine's 2012 priorities for the legislative session was to keep the community informed regarding the closure of the Hawaii Medical Center West facility in Ewa Beach in December 2011.

In 2012, she created the Hire Leeward Job and Career Fair.

Originally it was a five-year initiative to help the 1,000 people that lost their jobs from the HMC West and East locations.

They expected 600–800 attendees, and 3,000 showed.

The events brought thousands of jobs to West Oʻahu residents each year.

In 2012, Pine was elected to the Honolulu City Council, representing District 1, which includes the areas of ʻEwa, ʻEwa Beach, Kapolei, Honokai Hale, Ko Olina, Nanakuli, Maʻili, Waiʻanae, Makaha, Keaau and Makua.

She beat incumbent Tom Berg by more than 25 percentage points.

In 2016, she won her re-election campaign with a landslide to serve her second, 4-year term.

During her time at the Honolulu City Council, she fought for the improvement of parks throughout District 1 and allocated millions of dollars in Capital Improvement Project funds to improve infrastructure, roads, parks and public facilities throughout the Leeward Coast.

Pine resigned from the Republican Party on November 9, 2016, stating that many of the national party's new priorities had diverted from her long-held philosophical beliefs about inclusivity and progress.

In 2017, Councilmember Pine spearheaded efforts in getting Kapolei/ʻEwa designated as a "Blue Zone Project" area.

The project creates community awareness through events and opportunities for Leeward residents to learn about healthy lifestyle choices in order to reduce the high rate of health risks impacting the district.

As Chair of the Zoning and Housing Committee on the City Council, she worked with developers, nonprofits and lawmakers to change long-standing practices that made if difficult to build more affordable housing.

This resulted in several affordable housing projects on Oʻahu that provide units at all income levels on Oʻahu, which currently experiences a housing crisis.

She also worked to pass legislation that protects residential zoned areas to reduce the impact of illegal construction and uses.

On October 28, 2019, Pine announced her candidacy for Mayor of Honolulu.

Pine grew up on the North Shore of Oahu.

Her father is a professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi and Honolulu Community College.

Her mother is a retired nurse of Spanish, Filipino, and Chinese descent, born and raised on Oʻahu.

Her maternal grandparents were a Filipino immigrant and a Maui-born Filipino plantation worker.

Her paternal grandparents are of Irish, English and Scottish descent.

She is directly related to Ferdinand Marcos.

Her grandfather served in the United States Coast Guard as a chef during the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Pine has worked with American Veterans – Hawaiʻi, a non-profit transitional home for former homeless veterans, located in the Ewa District, Hawaii.

Pine played shortstop on the Manoa All Star Little League Team, disguising herself as a boy in order to qualify.

She attended Waialua and Moanalua High Schools and was a member of the Hawaiʻi Olympic Development Soccer Team.

Selected as Oʻahu Interscholastic Association West All-Star MVP player, she also ran cross-country and track, placing second in the OIA in various competitions.

In August 2019, they completed the 7th Annual Hire Leeward Job and Career Fair.