Tuifagaloa Dr. Afu Lefaoseu III, a retired US Army officer, is running for American Samoa’s nonvoting seat in the United States House of Representatives on a warning: the territory’s economy rests on a single industry. He is one of five candidates on the November 3, 2026, ballot, in a race against Delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R).
“We honor and appreciate the commitment of StarKist; they have been a mainstay of our lives,” Lefaoseu said when he announced his campaign in March. “But a territory that relies on a single company for its survival is a territory that is one global disaster, one trade shift, or one corporate decision away from total economic collapse.”
He said 83% of the territory’s private-sector jobs and 99% of its exports are controlled by one industry. To change that, he proposed bringing in “at least two or three new, major industries in untapped sectors—whether that be the digital economy, renewable energy, or sustainable regional trade.”
He framed the campaign around households squeezed by the cost of living. “It is for the cannery workers, the construction crews, and our dedicated government employees who are forced to choose between paying a utility bill and buying healthy food for their children,” he said. He also pointed to parents worried about “the drug pandemic that is stealing the potential of our children.”
Fighting the seabed lease
Lefaoseu has made opposition to deep-sea mining a central part of his campaign. In May, he wrote to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management demanding “an immediate halt to the lease sale” of waters near American Samoa. He argued it would violate the Coastal Zone Management Act, which requires federal activities affecting a territory’s coastal zone to be consistent with its approved coastal management program.
He warned that sediment plumes and heavy metals from mining could reach the territory’s waters, displace skipjack and yellowfin tuna, and threaten “to collapse the fish processing industry.” He also cited health risks to workers who handle the mineral nodules.
In a June op-ed in Samoa News, he asked the territory’s Deep-Sea Minerals Steering Committee to document how much revenue and how many local jobs mining would bring. He noted that under federal law, leasing revenue often flows to the US Treasury unless Congress enacts revenue sharing.
“If someone walked into a local family’s backyard and dug up their taro without their consent, it would be a violation of their rights; how is exploiting our seafloor without local consensus any different?” he wrote.
The federal government is moving ahead. On October 20, the Marine Minerals Administration issued its final notice for a lease sale covering 31.4 million acres off American Samoa, with the award set for November 19, PINA reported. Pasquines has reported on the local opposition to the plan. Radewagen has said she urged the federal government to keep mining activity at least 50 miles away.
Fire stations and first responders
In July, after a series of house and vehicle fires, Lefaoseu wrote a letter to the editor. In it, he said the Fagatogo Fire Station had been closed by the Department of Health over safety risks. With the Fagaitua substation also under repair, he wrote, crews had to respond from Tafuna.
He proposed a station in Leone and a rebuilt facility in Tafuna, and called for restoring the Fagatogo and Amouli stations. He also called for upgrading facilities in Aunu’u, Ofu, and Fitiuta, with federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Assistance to Firefighters Grants program, and community development block grants.
“As your candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, I promise you this: I will make fire safety and first-responder infrastructure a top priority in Washington,” he wrote.
From Tafuna to the 442nd
Lefaoseu’s campaign runs under the banner “People’s Choice, We Can Believe In.” He was the first candidate to pick up nomination papers when the American Samoa Election Office opened filing on June 15, according to a release from his campaign committee. “Our time has come to overcome past frustrations, invest heavily in keeping our youth close to home, and truly appreciate and develop our local community,” he said.
His biography states that he is a talking chief, Tuifagaloa, for the Paramount Chief Mauga family of Pago Pago, and High Chief Luaitalolelei of Uafato. He graduated from Tafuna High School in 1994 and earned an associate degree from American Samoa Community College in 1997. With a student loan from the American Samoa government’s scholarship program, he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Hawai’i at Hilo and a master’s degree from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. He later earned a doctorate in organizational leadership from Argosy University, with a dissertation on the leadership values of matai in the American Samoa government.
He deployed multiple times with the US Army, including with US Special Operations Command Central. In 2018, he took command of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, and his military service ended in November 2020. In 2021, he was appointed operational manager and later deputy director of the American Samoa Governor’s Office in Hawai’i.
American Samoa’s elections are nonpartisan, and party labels do not appear on the ballot. Polls will open from 6 am to 6 pm American Samoa time on November 3, 2026, with results expected soon after.
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