Sen. Steve K. Mesngon (R-Rota) announced last Friday his intent to run as mayor of Rota as an independent candidate.<\/p>\n
Mesngon, who reportedly submitted his intent to run as Rota mayor to the CNMI Republican Party back in November 2017, told Saipan Tribune that he intends to run for the position even if the party does not support his intent.<\/p>\n
The senator said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d with his party for not responding to his intent to run for election.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point I am not going to keep waiting for [their response] because my family is waiting on me. Right now, [I am] leaning toward running as an independent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a really strong advocate of the Republican Party, but there is no approval yet and no endorsement, so\u2026I made my decision,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
According to Mesngon, the CNMI Republican Party is endorsing the current Rota mayor, Efraim Atalig, for the Rota mayor\u2019s seat, but did not indicate who the party was endorsing for the Rota senator\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been my passion to run for Rota mayor,\u201d he said, adding that he ran for Rota mayor in 2009 but lost. In 2014, due to a compromise within the CNMI Republican Party, he ran for senator representing Rota for the 19th Legislature and won.<\/p>\n
Mesngon served as chief of staff for the Rota Municipal Council for four years prior to representing Rota in the Senate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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