{"id":349988,"date":"2021-08-16T06:05:16","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T20:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=349988"},"modified":"2021-08-16T06:05:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T20:05:16","slug":"its-torres-sablan-for-gop-in-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/its-torres-sablan-for-gop-in-22\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Torres-Sablan for GOP in \u201922"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres and Senate floor leader Vinnie Vinson Flores Sablan are the Republic Party\u2019s candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively, in the 2022 gubernatorial\u00a0 election. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres announced yesterday afternoon at his home in As Teo Senate floor leader Vinnie Vinson Flores Sablan (R-Saipan) as his running mate for the November 2022 gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n

In presenting Sablan as his running mate, Torres described the senator as a \u201cman of integrity, a man with compassion, a man with wisdom, and a man who knows how to fight for the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my greatest honor and privilege to call my friend, Senate floor leader. We share the same passion for his people,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

He said he needs all people\u2019s support in this journey. \u201cI hope and I\u2019m asking for your vote of confidence to vote for me again for your governor in 2022,\u201d said Torres, drawing cheers from supporters.<\/p>\n

CNMI Republican Party board president James Ada also announced on stage that they have decided to endorse Torres and Sablan as their official candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively.<\/p>\n

Torres and Sablan, who were joined by their family members and supporters, also unveiled on stage their campaign slogan: \u201cTogether, Stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people, including Cabinet members and Republican lawmakers, attended the event where lively music, food, drinks, and beverages were served.<\/p>\n

Rota Mayor Efraim M. Atalig and Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan were at the gathering. Also seen were known Democratic Party supporters Ambrosio Ogumoro, Juan Tenorio (former representative), Sid Kani, and Pete Pangelinan.<\/p>\n

In a later interview, Torres said he and Sablan share a similar journey, going from the House of Representatives and on to the Senate.<\/p>\n

He said the senator loves his people, is compassionate, and that they always respect each other. \u201cHe cares for our people. He wants to give opportunity for the young generation,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n

Torres believes his and Sablan\u2019s personality and their family background are the same. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m confident that this team is the right team moving forward in this journey for 2022,\u201d Torres added.<\/p>\n

The governor said they had actually planned to make the announcement on his 42nd birthday last Aug. 6, but because of the unfortunate passing of representative Ivan James Alafanso Blanco, they decided it wasn\u2019t the right time to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was more important for us to honor his service on the day of my birthday,\u201d said Torres, referring to Blanco, who used to serve as his press secretary before becoming a lawmaker.<\/p>\n

Torres deferred to Republican Party board president James Ada to respond when he was asked what would happen if Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, who is also a Republican, will also run as governor.<\/p>\n

Sablan, 43, said it\u2019s been seven years of his journey of public service and that it\u2019s been a great ride. \u201cThere\u2019s no feeling that gives us most honor than for people to have faith in us and trust us and have confidence in us,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

The Senate floor leader said he decided to join the governor to continue the good work that he\u2019s been doing and to work on improving any other parts of the CNMI society that need improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day has [to be] better than yesterday and I think if we start for that, we can improve the quality of life of our people,\u201d said Sablan, pointing out that his goal is to continue pubic service on another level, platform, and stage.<\/p>\n

Sablan, who was previously an independent candidate, was recently accepted to become a member of the Republican Party, which is the longest serving party in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Aside from being the Senate floor leader, Sablan chairs the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation. He has previously served for two terms as House representative of Precinct 4.<\/p>\n

Separately, Ada said in an interview that the GOP board\u2014which consists of five members\u2014has already unanimously endorsed the re-election bid of Torres and his partnership with Sablan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they are the official candidates for the Republican Party,\u201d said Ada, adding that they made the decision yesterday.<\/p>\n

As to the question what if Palacios will run as governor, Ada said their bylaw states that if the incumbent governor runs for re-election, they have to respect the party\u2019s bylaws. This means that if Palacios wants to run for governor, he has to do it either as an independent candidate or move to another party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres announced yesterday afternoon at his home in As Teo Senate floor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":349989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[141],"class_list":["post-349988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-gop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}