Then Rota Mayor-elect Aubry Hocog is sworn into office in January, she won't only be the first female mayor of Rota, but the first female mayor in the entire CNMI.

"Anything is possible. It started as a dream for me when I was a high school student wanting to serve and eventually run for office and it was the mayoral position that I really was vying for," she said.

The 35-year-old mother, a republican, beat four independent candidates in the November election, earning the top spot by just 35 votes.

"Many of our people we all love our beautiful island of Rota. Many of them have left, would like to come back. And overall many of them would like to see Rota progress," she said.

Rota's population is now 1,893 according to the 2020 U.S. Census -- down from 2,527 a decade ago. Hocog, the Special Assistant for Programs and Grants under Mayor Efraim Atalig and a former educator, wants to take the lead on reviving the economy.

"I would like to look to our neighboring island of Guam and use our proximity to Guam as an advantage to really lure and attract visitors to come and see the beauty of Rota," she said.

She says there's been an increase in new local businesses on Rota that could complement a potential up-tick in tourism.

Hocog will also inherit the looming issue of federal American Rescue Plan-funded government positions that are expected to dissolve in the new year. Of the mayor's roughly 160 staff, half are ARP funded.

"We won't have the budget to be able to accommodate all those employees but this is where we need to be creative and if we can generate FTEs through grant funding or through other local revenues this is something we can do to help provide opportunities for our local people," she said.

And she hopes to continue to put people first after she officially takes office in January.