Democratic candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor John deJongh and Gregory Francis brought their record to three for three in elections in 2006, defeating the independent team of Kenneth Mapp and St. Johnian Almando “Rocky” Liburd in a run-off vote November 21.
DeJongh and Francis received 16,644 votes, 57.3 percent of the total, to the Mapp-Liburd total of 12,402 votes, or 42.7 percent.
A total of 29,109 voters went to the polls for the runoff election, as compared with 33,480 voters in the November 7 general election. DeJongh missed winning the required 50 percent plus one number of votes in the general election by only two votes in the three-team race.
For the third straight time, deJongh and Francis began election day visiting supporters at polling places in Coral Bay and Cruz Bay on St. John before heading to St. Thomas and St. Croix as he did in the September Democratic Party primary and the November 7 general election.
Both campaigns were well-represented outside the island’s two polling places to encourage a steady stream of voters throughout the day.
While Mapp-Liburd team outpolled the deJongh-Francis team on St. Croix, St. Thomian deJongh lead his team to a wide margin of victory on his home island. A breakdown of St. John election totals was not available over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The approximately 2,264 walk-in, absentee and provisional votes cast in the run-off is too small to affect the final result.
