While it\u2019s not in the same scale as 2012 when he took an eye-popping 80 percent of the vote, incumbent Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan won a fourth term as the CNMI\u2019s nonvoting delegate to U.S. House of Representatives after beating CNMI Democratic Party bet Andrew Salas by more than 4,000 votes in Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
According to unofficial results from the Commonwealth Election Commission, Sablan garnered 8,579 votes against Salas\u2019 4,547 votes\u2014a difference of 4,032 votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very humbling. To know that when voters look back on my six years in office they believe that I have worked hard and made their lives better\u2014that\u2019s very humbling,\u201d Sablan said in an email to Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
He said the people of the Commonwealth have given him the opportunity to make life better for all people in the CNMI. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am very grateful for that trust. And my commitment to improving life here in every way I can is renewed by the tremendous support I received in Tuesday\u2019s election. You have my promise: I will continue to work for you\u2014as hard as ever\u2014in the 114th U.S. Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about his margin of victory against Salas, a former lawmaker and Commerce secretary, Sablan said this year\u2019s elections shouldn\u2019t be compared to the 2012 polls where he won by a landslide twice over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat surprised me was the 60-point spread I garnered in the 2012 election. That 80 percent was an anomaly and 2012 cannot be the benchmark measurement for my races. This year\u2019s results, where the spread was a sensible 31 points\u2014my 66 percent to my opponent\u2019s 34 percent\u2014is a result I can accept as reasonable. Of course I am pleased that the unofficial results show me receiving over 4,000 votes more than my opponent or that I received more votes than any other candidate who was on the 2014 general election ballot,\u201d said Sablan.<\/p>\n
The now four-term congressman thanked his family, supporters, the voting public, and the people of the CNMI for yet another election win. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy family, committee, supporters, and our people own this win. I cannot do it alone and it is their help, trust and support that make possible this success for the fourth time. And I remind myself always that it is our people that decide who represents them in Congress. It is our people who say that I can go to Washington to stand in their place and to speak on their behalf in Congress. This is the reason why I had installed at the door entrance to 423 Cannon these words: This office belongs to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. Kilili thanks voters: \u2018I will continue to work for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his priorities in the 114th Congress is education\u2014finding more resources for CNMI students, teachers, and schools.<\/p>\n
He also enumerated a plethora of issues that he needs to address\u2014both local and federal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still caught in the middle of the transition to federal management of immigration. There are still issues to resolve. Add to that the Legislature\u2019s recent decision to license a multi-billion dollar development without giving thoughtful consideration about where these investors will get the 7,000 to 10,000-plus workers they need for their business operations. Bringing thousands of strangers to our islands\u2014possibly increasing overnight our population by 20 percent\u2014will create irreversible and irrevocable changes to our communities. And the U.S. military wants to be a much bigger presence in our islands. We will have to manage that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan is the first and only person to have represented the Northern Marianas in the U.S. Congress. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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