‘Above all I’m feeling grateful’

Independent candidate for CNMI delegate to U.S. Congress James “Jim” Rayphand, shared his gratitude for all those who supported him. In a conversation with the media yesterday morning, Rayphand, standing with his supporters just outside the Precinct 1C voting site, in Koblerville, shared that as his campaign near its end he feels genuinely grateful “Above all I’m feeling grateful. grateful for all the support we’ve gotten, surprisingly a good amount of support for such a small campaign.”

Rayphand shared that he had placed his vote early this past Saturday, and at that time, with the voting ongoing he shared, “That’s really it I’m grateful and thankful to everybody who supported, everybody that ran. You know I think we have to be grateful to all the candidates for stepping up. So, whoever wins we plan to support them.”

He shared that even though it was his first time running for a political seat there was generally throughout the race, no overly large challenges. “ I’d say no, man, it’s a pretty easy process all together, and really a lot of friendly good vibes all around. As far as the process I didn’t see anything… everything was fine with me.”

Should he win he shared, “Whatever support we get that’s good enough for me, but honestly I’ll be glad with the campaign aside and get to work. I’m really excited about the work of the delegate. Campaigning is not my thing I think you guys may have noticed this I’m really a quiet campaigner. I’ve never been really a look-at-me type of person, but I’m really looking forward to the work of the delegate the office work.”

When asked what made him run for the position, he shared “I didn’t really feel like the other candidates were representative of me. They are all fine and good people in their own right they just don’t represent me. I think I approach issues differently. I think I’ve had different experiences I just didn’t feel like they represented me, and I’m thinking there’s a lot more people like me who may feel the same. But again, I want to make it clear I don’t want to disparage any of the candidates. I tried to make this clear all along. It’s been a friendly campaign, I just feel like I bring a different perspective, different experience. “

He shared that throughout the campaign, he had shown the community what he genuinely believes, completely unscripted. “I really stepped into all of these things without a script, just with what I generally believe and what a general group of people believe.”

As for the number of votes cast, CEC said a total of 266 was cast in Precinct 1B-1, 294 at Precinct 1B-2 as of 3pm and 259 at Precinct 1C as of 3:49pm. As of 4:06pm, 291 were cast at Precinct 1A.