Villagomez was seen with another longtime Republican, businessman Juan S. Tenorio, at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field to watch the Asia-Pacific Regional Little League game.
Villagomez said he was registered by Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan, during the GOP’s recent general membership meeting.
Yumul, in a separate interview, said he registered Villagomez even before the GOP endorsed Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio as the party’s candidate for the U.S. Congress.
Yumul, who like Villagomez is a former Covenant Party member, said the lt. governor’s defection is one of the signs that the GOP is getting stronger.
Villagomez is reportedly teaming up with Rep. Diego T. Benavente for next year’s gubernatorial election.
Benavente has declined to comment.
Also expected to seek the GOP nomination are Saipan Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider and former Gov. Juan N. Babauta.
According to Yumul, it is important for the GOP leaders to bring all its gubernatorial candidates together and remind them about the importance of party unity.
The Villagomez clan is one of the CNMI’s most prominent Republican families.
Villagomez’s father, the late Dr. Jose T. Villagomez, was one of the closest advisers of the CNMI’s only three-term governor, Republican Pedro P. Tenorio. In the 2005 elections, then-Vice Speaker Timothy P. Villagomez agreed to be the running mate of then-Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, who founded the Covenant Party after leaving the GOP which he chaired in the 1990s.
