Delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R) won the American Samoa delegate race on November 3, 2026, taking 60.7% of the vote in unofficial results for a seventh term. She will return to a United States House of Representatives that Democrats will control starting in January.
Radewagen received 4,215 of the 6,948 ballots cast, according to the American Samoa Election Office. Sandra King Young, a former director of the American Samoa Medicaid State Agency making her first run for Congress, finished second with 2,169 votes, or 31.2%. Radewagen’s share fell from 2024, when she won reelection with 74.8% of the vote.
Radewagen thanked voters in a statement on election night. “It is such a blessing to represent you and I am humbled by your trust,” she said. She also thanked the candidates who ran for the delegate seat and for the American Samoa House of Representatives “for their willingness to serve and being active in the territory’s future.”
The office Radewagen holds carries limits. American Samoa’s delegate can vote in committees but cannot vote on the floor of the US House. People born in American Samoa are US nationals rather than citizens and cannot vote for president. The territory’s elections are nonpartisan, and party labels do not appear on the ballot, though Radewagen is a Republican and King Young is a member of the American Samoa Democratic Party.
How the challengers ran
King Young built her campaign around decisions made in Washington. “I am running because American Samoa cannot afford to be passive while decisions are made in Washington that shape our healthcare system, our economy, our citizenship rights, and our natural resources,” she said when she announced her candidacy in March. She said the territory needed leadership that would fight to protect its Medicaid funding, school funding, and veterans’ healthcare benefits.
After the election, Fuiavailili Keniseli Lafaele wrote in a letter to the editor that King Young’s “showing suggests that a meaningful segment of our electorate is receptive to new voices, different perspectives, and alternative approaches to the challenges confronting our Territory.”
Tuifagaloa Dr. Afu Lefaoseu III, a retired US Army officer making his first bid for public office, finished third with 316 votes, or 4.5%. He warned that a territory relying on a single company for its survival is “one global disaster, one trade shift, or one corporate decision away from total economic collapse,” and he made opposition to deep-sea mining a central part of his campaign.
Fualaau Rosie Tago Lancaster, a US Army veteran, received 140 votes, or 2%, after a campaign built on a hospital wing for veterans. Meleagi Suitonu Chapman, who focused on veterans, healthcare, and safety, received 108 votes, or 1.6%. Both had been candidates in several previous delegate races.
A sixth candidate, Samana Semo Ve’ave’a, a retired US Army sergeant major and former director of the American Samoa Department of Homeland Security, died suddenly on October 19 at 77, 15 days before the election. Radewagen remembered him in her statement: “I especially think of Samana Semo Veavea and I know his family is grieving his loss…”
American Samoa’s delegate heads into the minority
When she announced her reelection bid in March, Radewagen said her role was to work with whoever holds power in Washington. “The people of the United States select who is in charge in Washington, and it is my role to work with them for the good of American Samoa,” she said. “The fact is, after the 2026 elections, President Trump will have two more years, including his Department of the Interior, and we’ll continue our proven, effective practice of working with them on behalf of our islands.”
Because delegates vote in committee, their assignments matter. Radewagen ranks fifth among Republicans on the US House Committee on Natural Resources and sits on its Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, which oversees relations between the federal government and Native Americans and US territories. Before the new Congress convenes, she heads back to Washington, where the current Congress resumes with “a full slate through Christmas,” Talanei reported.
A more immediate federal decision for the territory does not involve Congress. On November 19, the Marine Minerals Administration plans to auction seabed mineral leases off American Samoa. A federal judge in Honolulu, Jill Otake, has not said when she will rule on whether federal regulators violated the Endangered Species Act by signing off on the sale, and a ruling may not come before the auction. The plaintiffs, Fa‘asao Amerika Samoa and the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, are represented by Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization.
Radewagen has urged federal officials to keep mining away from the islands. “For the past year, we’ve held a united front against seabed mining, while emphatically urging the federal government to keep activity at least 50 miles away, and federal departments are honoring our position,” she said in the same March statement.
Voters keep all but one incumbent in the American Samoa House of Representatives
In the American Samoa House of Representatives, the lower house of the territory’s legislature, the Fono, voters reelected 19 incumbents and unseated one among the 20 elected seats on the ballot. Its members are known locally as faipule.
The only incumbent to lose represented District 10, which covers Atu’u, Leloaloa, and Satala. Newcomer Saena Omar Shalhout won with 132 votes, defeating incumbent Tapai Alailepule Ben Vaivao, who received 28. Talali Perry T. Loloaso Wightman-Uia received 64.
In District 6, which includes Afono, Masefau, Masausi, and Sailele, incumbent Matagaono Vaimaga Maiava kept his seat by a single vote, 124 to 123, over Avaolagi Ta’atiatia I. Mata’utia Sua.
Speaker Savali Talavou Ale and Vice Speaker Fetui Fetu Jr. of the American Samoa House of Representatives were both reelected, and both are expected to run again for their leadership posts, Samoa News reported. The territory’s 18 senators were not on the ballot, because county councils choose them under Samoan custom.
The chamber’s 21st seat has yet to be filled. Swains Island’s representative is chosen at a meeting of Swains Island voters, which the Election Office expects to schedule this month. The seat gained full voting rights in 2025 after a territory-wide referendum passed in November 2022. Su’a Alexander Jennings is the incumbent.
Turnout and certification
About half of the territory’s 14,024 registered voters cast ballots, election officials reported, and results from all 40 polling stations reached the Election Office before 9 pm.
The outcome diverged from Pasquines’ October 2026 Elections Territorial Poll, in which “none of the above” led at 39.3% and Radewagen drew 21.4%. American Samoa’s results in that opt-in online poll reflected ten registered voters, the smallest sample of any territory, and Pasquines noted at the time that they should be read with caution.
Candidates and voters have until November 10 to challenge the results in the territory’s High Court, and the Election Office will release official results after certification, Samoa News reported. Unofficial results by district are on the Pasquines elections center.
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