On August 27, Guam voters cast their ballots in the Democratic primary election for governor. With 62.3% of the vote, incumbent Governor Leon Guerrero won against Delegate Michael San Nicolas. For Lieutenant Governor, incumbent Josh Tenorio ran against Sabrina Salas Matanane.
13 days after the primary and four days before the GEC finalized the results, San Nicolas had more to say. San Nicolas and Salas Matanane refused to concede to Leon Guerrero. Furthermore, they have refused to support or endorse Leon Guerrero in the general election.
San Nicolas made this announcement on Thursday, September 8 at an event to thank the supporters of his campaign. At this event, he and Salas Matanane did everything short of endorsing the Republican campaign of former Governor Felix Camacho and Senator Tony Ada.
San Nicolas claims that Leon Guerrero and Tenorio “poisoned” their community with “dirty politics.” He told the crowd: “We must never, ever concede to that kind of evil.”
Salas Matanane then took the stage and said she “almost quit… almost gave up” during her campaign. She states that she would wake up and wonder, “What kind of punches are going to get thrown at us?” and “What kind of dirt is going to be slung our way?”
Of what evil, punches, and dirt were they speaking? San Nicolas accused his opponents of causing challenges on his campaign path. He blamed the other Democrats for impeding fundraising efforts and making it difficult to find a running mate. He stated that the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio team led smear campaigns on donors to San Nicolas and Salas Matanane. Such tactics would then scare away potential new donors.
Both politicians implored the crowd to “unite for change” and vote in the general election. The two politicians did not issue a formal endorsement to the Republican ticket but are not running a write-in campaign, either. They stressed the importance of increasing voter turnout. Salas Matanane told their supporters: “In the primary election, 60% of our registered voters decided to stay home. We can’t let that happen again.”
Camacho and Ada attended the event and offered San Nicolas and Salas Matanane high praise. Camacho addressed the crowd, saying, “We’re just here to say congratulations to the San Nicolas-Matanane team for an outstanding election, a clean election, an honorable election.”
Both the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio and Camacho-Ada campaigns have begun reaching out to voters ahead of the general election.
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