Former Governor Ralph DLG Torres (R), who survived an impeachment trial in 2022 and saw criminal charges against him dismissed this year, finished first in the Northern Mariana Islands’ race for governor on November 3, 2026, but fell just short of the majority needed to win outright. Torres and his running mate, Benjamin Jones Jr. (R), received 6,437 votes, or 49.5%, in the unofficial count posted by the Commonwealth Election Commission. They will face Blas Jonathan “BJ” Attao (I), a member of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, and his running mate, CNMI House Speaker Edmund Villagomez (I), who received 5,043 votes, or 38.7%.
The same ballots handed Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds (R) a second term in the United States House of Representatives. She received 8,194 votes, or 63.7%, to 4,675, or 36.3%, for Galvin Sablan Deleon Guerrero, the president of Northern Marianas College, whom the Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands had endorsed. Marianas Variety described her win as a landslide.
A runoff decided by the third ticket
A ticket for governor needs more than half the votes to win, and the runoff must be held 14 days after the commission certifies the general election results, Marianas Press reported. The commission’s count, which includes early and absentee ballots, puts Torres 1,394 votes ahead of Attao.
That leaves the 1,537 voters, or 11.8%, who backed Lawrence F. Camacho (I) and Edith Deleon Guerrero (I). Torres said his campaign would reach out to them. “I also embrace what their goals are and how they want to build an economy,” he said. Camacho said, “The winner of today’s election, the winner of this campaign, and the election here in 2026 will be the people.” Deleon Guerrero said their campaign “will respect their desire for whoever will be the ultimate winner of this election.”
“We’re very proud that we have 49.5 percent of the votes,” Torres said. “We’re not there yet, but obviously it’s a win for all of us.” Attao said his campaign would “await the actual official results so that we’ll see what the next steps are.” Villagomez urged the public to await certification. “There’s still time to go, and I just want to say let’s just stay tuned and let’s get the official results, and we’ll see where we go from there,” he said.
Past controversies
Torres first became governor on December 29, 2015, after the death of Governor Eloy Inos (R), and won a full term in 2018, defeating former Governor Juan Babauta (I). The CNMI House of Representatives later impeached him on six articles alleging theft, corruption tied to premium-class air travel and misuse of government resources, and neglect of duty. In May 2022, the Northern Mariana Islands Senate voted 4 to 3 to acquit him, short of the six votes needed to convict. That November, he lost a runoff, 54.05% to 45.95%, to his own lieutenant governor, Arnold I. Palacios (I), who had been his running mate in 2018.
The criminal case against him lasted longer. Torres faced 12 counts of misconduct in public office, one count of theft related to premium-class travel for himself and his wife, and one count of contempt for failing to comply with a legislative subpoena, Marianas Variety reported. On March 23, 2026, the charges were dismissed with prejudice under a settlement in which Torres agreed to repay $23,745, the additional cost of airfare upgrades, without admitting wrongdoing. The Northern Mariana Islands Office of the Attorney General later asked the court to undo the deal, arguing the prosecutor who signed it lacked the authority to do so. On October 16, Judge Pro Tempore Arthur Barcinas rejected that request, ruling that the settlement and dismissals “remain in full force and effect.”
An economy under strain
Each ticket offered a different path. At a Saipan Chamber of Commerce debate that concluded October 8, Attao pledged to fix overdue government audits, which he said have made it harder for the islands to obtain federal grants. “We need to clean the books. We need to fix our audits. We need to get the information to the federal government,” he said. He also proposed stronger tax enforcement and mobile clinics in the villages. Torres proposed energy and tourism summits in his first 100 days to attract investors and airlines, and favored lower taxes. On election night, he said his campaign would focus on restoring retirees’ 25% benefits, lowering electricity costs to 22 cents per kilowatt-hour, and returning public schools to a five-day week. Camacho said he would restructure government and opposed relying on new taxes, saying “we will never tax ourselves out of this situation.”
The islands’ tourism industry has been shrinking. Visitor arrivals fell 32% in fiscal year 2025, to 160,640, according to the Marianas Visitors Authority, which said many stakeholders see the program that lets prescreened visitors from China enter without a visa as “essential to the full revival of the market.” Days before the election, the United States Department of Homeland Security suspended that program. “Our tourism industry is already facing tremendous challenges,” King-Hinds said.
The islands are also rebuilding. In April, Super Typhoon Sinlaku destroyed the homes of thousands of residents on Saipan and Tinian, prompting a major disaster declaration, and two more typhoons have affected the islands since.
A Republican tilt, with independents in the mix
King-Hinds became the first Republican to hold the delegate seat when she won it in 2024. This year, she argued that as a Republican, she was better positioned than a non-Republican to work with the White House. Deleon Guerrero’s campaign focused on strengthening and diversifying the economy, creating opportunities so families can stay in or return to the islands, and protecting the Commonwealth’s cultural identity, according to a Democratic Party statement. Like every delegate, King-Hinds can serve on committees but cannot vote in the US House itself.
Republicans also led in two of the three CNMI Senate districts. On Saipan, Vinnie Sablan (R), Torres’s running mate in 2022, was the top vote-getter with 28.7%, and Senator Celina Babauta (D) took the second seat, while Senator Corina Magofna (I) finished fourth. On Tinian, Senators Frank Cruz (R) and Jude Hofschneider (R) were the only candidates for two seats. On Rota, Senator Donald Manglona (I) held his seat with 42.0%, ahead of Tito Hocog II (R) at 37.9%.
Independents, however, have held the governor’s office since Torres left it in 2023, and they still dominate the CNMI House. Palacios and Governor David M. Apatang (I), who took office in July 2025 after Palacios’s death, both ran as independents, and Apatang was not on this year’s ballot. In the CNMI House races, independents led for 14 of the 20 seats, Republicans for five, and one Democrat, Leila Staffler (D), topped the race in Saipan’s Election District 5.
Some CNMI House races remain close. In Election District 1, Representative Joseph Flores (I) holds the sixth and final seat by four votes over Representative Roman Benavente (I), 1,437 to 1,433. In Election District 3, Steve Jang (I) holds the last seat by 97 votes over Yvette Sablan (R), while Representative Denita Yangetmai (D) finished eighth. In Election District 4, Representative Malcom Omar (R) finished third for two seats, behind James Benjamin (R) and Representative Joel Camacho (I).
Down the ballot
The race for attorney general is also headed to a runoff. Joaquin DLG Torres led with 39.7%. Michael Evangelista edged Jonathan Glass for second place by 18 votes, 3,854 to 3,836, though certification will settle who advances, Marianas Press reported.
Republicans won three of the four mayoral races. Keli Aiken Tenorio (R) unseated Northern Islands Mayor Valentino Taisacan Jr. (I), 88 votes to 58, and Antonio San Nicolas Borja (R) in Tinian and Aubry Manglona Hocog (R) in Rota ran unopposed. Saipan Mayor Ramon “RB” Camacho (I) won reelection with 81.5%.
In the municipal council races, Anthony Benavente, Marian Tudela, and Antonia Tudela were the only candidates for the three Saipan and Northern Islands seats. Anne Marie San Nicolas and Chad Palacios led for Tinian and Aguiguan’s two seats, and Jonovan Lizama and Sandra Masga led for Rota’s two seats, with Masga 34 votes ahead of Tillie Taimanao. Daniel Quitugua ran unopposed for the Saipan and Northern Islands seat on the Board of Education.
Voters retained Chief Justice Alexandro Castro of the Northern Mariana Islands Supreme Court, 10,359 to 1,832. The question of holding a convention to propose amendments to the Northern Mariana Islands Constitution failed. Yes received 7,602 of the 11,926 votes cast on it, or 63.7%, according to the Commonwealth Election Commission, but Article XVIII of the constitution calls a convention only “if two-thirds of the votes cast are affirmative.” The yes vote fell 349 votes short of that threshold, so no convention will be held.
How the results compare with the poll
The results differ sharply from Pasquines’ October 2026 Elections Territorial Poll. In that opt-in online poll, Attao and Villagomez led with 50.5% to 32.0% for Torres and Jones, and Deleon Guerrero led King-Hinds 48.6% to 44.4%. The poll had respondents who opted in and therefore did not have a random sample, which seems to have affected its results, despite our weighting methodology.
The election results remain unofficial until the commission certifies them. Updated results will appear on the Pasquines elections center.
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