The announcement comes on the heels of what some believe is a political downturn in Washington, D.C. for Guam’s military buildup.
Bordallo’s push for Guam’s agenda is also slowly losing its traction, analysts said. Democrat Joshua Tenorio believes the former governor has a good chance of at least defeating Bordallo in the Democratic primary, given recent public speculation that Bordallo “abandoned” the former governor in the last elections.
Tenorio said while Gutierrez and Bordallo share a number of common supporters, many of those common supporters were disappointed in the congresswoman for not supporting the Democratic ticket during the last election.
Gutierrez narrowly lost to Republican Eddie B. Calvo.
“It’s a little early at this point, but the loyalty that a lot of the Democrats have for [Bordallo] is sort of at play because of her perceived support for Governor Calvo in the last election. That perception is there because she had opportunities to show support for the Democratic ticket, but she seemed to engage in a lot of social events with the Republican side,” Tenorio said.
This is not the first time Democratic supporters rallied behind Gutierrez to run for Congress, Tenorio said.
“People have encouraged him to run for this office for a long time. Up until this point, he had always deferred to her. I think he’s seeing a wave of that joint support. The environment has changed and that’s a byproduct of the last election,” he said.
Tenorio also noted that many factors will influence the outcome of the delegate election, including who will run in the Republican side. He said there has been speculation that Sen. Frank Blas Jr. and former Gov. Felix Camacho will be the likely candidates.
