Manny Gregory T. Castro
Ronnie M. Calvo
SENATE President Edith Deleon Guerrero of Saipan and the Legislature’s longest-serving member, Sen. Paul A. Manglona of Rota, lost their seats to younger opponents, both of whom have a background in education.
The legislative election results indicate that, although the pro-administration bloc will retain the House leadership, the Senate will continue to be more independent.
Deleon Guerrero, a former Democrat who ran this year as an independent, lost to the Democratic Party’s candidate, Rep. Manny Gregory Tenorio Castro, a former Northern Marianas College director of enrollment services.
Castro received 5,178 votes or 52.89% of the total votes cast to beat Deleon Guerrero, who received 4,210 votes or 43% of the total votes cast. The third candidate, Luis Masga Sablan, an independent, got 403 votes.
On Rota, Manglona, who has been a senator since 1988 and is a former Senate president, lost to Ronnie Mendiola Calvo, a special education teacher at Sinapalo Elementary School. Both ran as independent candidates.
Calvo garnered 476 votes or 51.9% of the total votes cast while Manglona got 441 or 48.09%.
On Tinian, Republican Sen. Karl King-Nabors, the brother of U.S. Delegate-elect Kimberlyn King-Hinds, ran unopposed and received 803 votes.
House elections
In the Precinct 1 House race on Saipan, independent candidate Raymond Ulloa Palacios was elected to fill the seat that will be vacated by House Floor Leader Edwin Propst, who lost to King-Hinds in the delegate election.
Democrat Rep. Diego Vincent F. Camacho led the Precinct 1 race with 1,834 votes; Palacios was second with 1,817 votes; independent Rep. Joseph A. Flores was third with 1,660 votes; independent Rep. Roman C. Benavente was fourth with 1,613 votes; Republican Rep. Roy Ada was fifth with 1,591 votes; and independent Rep. Vincent S. Aldan was sixth with 1,549 votes.
In Precinct 2, independent Rep. John Paul Sablan was reelected with 700 votes, but his running mate, Special Assistant for Substance Abuse, Addiction and Rehabilitation Program Diego M. Sablan, lost to former Special Assistant for Military Affairs Daniel Iwashita Aquino Jr. Aquino garnered 559 votes while Diego M. Sablan received 412 votes.
In Precinct 3, incumbent Democratic Rep. Vicente C. Camacho did not make it to the top six while a new independent candidate, athletics sports instructor Elias Malite Rangamar, won.
Independent Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao topped the race with 1,869 votes; Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez came in second with 1,865 votes; Rangamar was third with 1,511 votes; independent Rep. Ralph N. Yumul was fourth with 1,466 votes; independent Rep. Marissa Flores was fifth with 1,420 votes; and incumbent Democratic Rep. Denita Yangetmai was sixth with 1,218 votes. Independent and first-time candidate Del Benson, with 937 votes, finished eighth behind seventh placer Rep. Vicente C. Camacho.
In Precinct 4, Vice Speaker Joel Camacho retained his seat with 738 votes while fellow independent Rep. Malcolm Omar was also reelected with 582 votes.
In Precinct 5, incumbents Rep. Thomas John Manglona and Rep. Angelo Camacho, both running as independents, were reelected with 1,344 and 1,282 votes, respectively. The other candidate, former Republican Rep. Melvin O. Faisao, came in third with 536 votes.
Incumbent Rep. Patrick San Nicolas ran unopposed on Tinian and garnered 763 votes.
On Rota, incumbent Rep. Julie Marie Ogo received 763 votes to beat her challenger, independent Eusebio M. Manglona, who got 485 votes.
Effective and efficient
Commonwealth Election Commission Chair Susan Babauta said they were able to start the counting earlier than expected because they conducted a very efficient and effective process.
Commissioner Jose Kiyoshi said CEC Executive Director Kayla Igitol recommended that tabulation begin as soon as some of the ballots arrived.
The tabulation, which started at around 9 p.m., was completed by 5 a.m. Wednesday.
It was only during the tabulation of the absentee ballots when the process slowed down because the machine rejected 26 absentee ballots that appeared to have not been properly secured. So they had to count over 900 absentee ballots by hand, Babauta said.
As for the concern raised by NMI Democratic Party Executive Director Nola Hix regarding a “discrepancy” between the number of early votes that came out in the news on Tuesday and what was posted on the CEC website, Kiyoshi said they encouraged her to submit her complaint in writing. He said the CEC will address any issues raised by Hix.
According to the CEC, the CNMI had 18,401 registered voters as of Sept. 27, 2024. Based on the total votes cast for the CNMI-wide delegate race, voter turnout was 66.4%.
