REPRESENTATIVE Richard Tudela Lizama on Friday said he will run for Saipan mayor in the 2022 general election.
Lizama, who won as an independent candidate in 2018 and was re-elected as Democrat in last year’s midterm elections, represents Precinct 5 in the House of Representatives.
NMI Democratic Party Vice Chairman Daniel O. Quitugua said Lizama is known to his constituents as “a man of action” whose favorite expression since he was elected into office is, “Just do it.”
True to his words, Quitugua added, Lizama has served his constituents really well in Precinct 5.
If elected mayor, Lizama “is going to work very closely with U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan to ensure additional federal funding for Saipan community projects and services,” Quitugua said.
In an interview, Lizama said it has been “proven since his first term as a House representative” that his “passion is to serve the people.”
He said he now wants to expand his passion to serve the entire island of Saipan.
“Whatever I do, since the time I came back from the military and since my first job here in local immigration, I make sure I make a big difference. I am the type of person that if given a mission, I will do my best to accomplish it and make things better. And that is just the way I am.”
He also acknowledged that “we do have a good mayor right now,” referring to Republican Mayor David M. Apatang, “and I want to continue his work, and do more. I want to make more improvements.”
First elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018, Apatang is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
Lizama said the Legislature is doing a lot for the public, serving the Commonwealth by making laws.
As for the mayor, his responsibilities include taking care of the people, he added. “And that is the reason I believe that if I become the mayor I will be able to do just that — serve the people,” he said.
Lizama said his good relationship with the Legislature and other CNMI officials will allow him, if elected mayor, to do so much more for the people of Saipan.
Lizama at the same time said he knows that accomplishing things boils down to availability of funding.
“The issue here is funding. The present mayor is probably the luckiest mayor because there is a lot of money coming in. But we are not looking to see that happening every year. The challenge is going to be on the next mayor because we don’t know how much funding we will get from the federal government in the future. But when it comes to serving the people and improving Saipan, my motto remains, ‘Just do it!’”
Besides Lizama, Republican Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, Board of Parole Chairman Ramon B. Camacho, an independent, and Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality Administrator Eliceo Diaz Cabrera have also announced their mayoral candidacies.
Rep. Richard Lizama speaks during a House session in July.
