“That’s why I would like to thank our party chairman Manny Sablan for taking the lead in reorganizing our party, and I also feel that it’s my obligation to help,” said Cing, Tinian’s Democratic senator from 1992 to 2004.
He said he wants his party to be “strong again, not only because I’m thinking about running for the U.S. Congress, but also because I believe that the CNMI will benefit if the people elect a Democrat this November.”
National Democrats, he added, are poised to retain control of the U.S. Congress and even win the White House.
“Even if I’m not the nominee, I will work hard to support our party’s candidate for congressional delegate,” Cing said.
He also believes that local Democrats should affiliate with the national party.
“It’s too late to do that this year, but we will make sure that NMI Democrats will be able to participate in the 2012 national convention,” Cing said.
But even though the local party is not yet affiliated with its U.S. counterpart, the former senator said national Democrats will “not ignore their fellow Democrats from the NMI.”
Cing said he is now trying to persuade former Democrats to rejoin the party.
“We have to heal old wounds,” he added. “And I’m glad Chairman Sablan is doing his best to resurrect our party.”
After winning the first CNMI gubernatorial race in 1977, the Democrats lost three consecutive elections after splitting in 1981. Its standard bearer won in 1993, but the party split again in the 1997 and 2001 elections, ensuring its defeat. In 2005, its gubernatorial nominee placed fourth running against a Republican and two former Republicans.
Democrats now hold only one of the 20 House seats and two of the nine Senate seats.
