Kicking off today’s widely expected red wave was, shockingly, not any locale within the continental United States. In fact, it wasn’t even a state in the union in which the red wave began. Rather, it was in Guam, where a seat that’s been Democrat for decades flipped red.
Reporting on that was Newsweek, which reported that:
On Tuesday, voters in the Micronesian island territory elected a Republican, James Moylan, to represent it in Congress for just the second time since the seat was created in 1972. His win over longtime Democratic House Speaker Judith Won Pat ends three decades of Democratic federal representation from a territory that supported Democratic President Joe Biden by a near 13-point margin in its national straw poll in 2020.
However, as of 7:42 a.m. local time Wednesday, unofficial results posted to the Guam Election Commission website showed the territory’s Democratic incumbent governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, had easily outlasted a challenge by onetime Republican Governor Felix Camacho by about 11 points, while Democrats managed to hold control of the territorial legislature.
Newsweek added, in its report on the subject, that while Guam typically elects both Republicans and Democrats for territorial-level offices, it’s chosen Democrats for its national-level representatives since 1992.
But now, three decades later, Brandon and his policies are bad enough that that’s changed and the territory is sending a Republican to Congress rather than a Democrat.
Unfortunately for the GOP, however, Moylan’s win is little other than a symbolic victory, as Guam’s representative to the House of Reps, unlike the representatives from other United States Territories, does not vote in the Congress.
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Moylan has, in the past, suggested changing that state of things, saying during a question and answer session that a plebiscite may be needed to ask Guam’s residents what they want. In his words:
“Guam today is a melting pot, and with a court decision requiring an inclusive plebiscite, we need to open the discussion and vote to all American citizens who call Guam home. This may not be a popular answer for some, but if we were to continue the argument of who should make the decision, we will never get to the next phase of ‘what next?’
The National Review, adding more details to the reporting on Moylan’s victory and what else happened during Guam’s elections on Tuesday, reported that:
“Republican James Moylan, a senator in the Guam legislature, has defeated Judith Won Pat, former speaker of the Guam Legislature. Partial, unofficial results from the Guam Election Commission showed Moylan leading with 17,075 votes to Won Pat’s 15,427. Moylan is only the second Republican to be elected to the delegate seat since its creation in 1972, according to the report.
“Democrats will maintain control of the Guam legislature, however, with nine seats to the GOP’s six seats. Guam’s incumbent Democratic Governor Lou Leon Guerrero and Lieutenant Governor Joshua Tenorio also defeated former Republican Governor Felix Camacho and Guamanian senator Tony Ada by 11 percentage points.”