First lady Cecile deJongh and Governor John deJongh, left, celebrate the incumbent’s November 2 reelection.
Virgin Islands residents hit the polls on Tuesday, November 2, and for the most part put the incumbents back in their seats.
While gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Mapp and running mate Malik Sekou had yet to concede defeat as of press time, the Elections System of the Virgin Islands declared Governor John deJongh and Lieutenant Governor Gregory Francis the winners by almost 4,000 votes territory-wide.
While results last week were still unofficial, deJongh and Francis were recognized as of press time as garnering 17,535 votes territory-wide compared to Mapp and Sekou’s 13,580, according to information from the Election System of the Virgin Islands.
In the St. Thomas/St. John District, deJongh and Francis were recognized as having received 9,029 votes to Mapp and Sekou’s 6,268, according to the Election System of the Virgin Islands.
On St. John, voters at the Guy Benjamin School polling station favored the incumbent governor by a margin of 141 to 80, while at the Julius E. Sprauve School polling station, it was a close race with deJongh just nosing Mapp out by only 410 votes to 402.
The gubernatorial race in the St. Croix District was also tight, with deJongh edging Mapp out by a margin of 8,506 to 7,312, according to the Election System of the Virgin Islands’ tally.
Senator at Large Craig Barshinger was reelected in a landslide in both districts. Territory-wide, Barshinger garnered 14,955 votes compared to 5,939 votes for candidate Lorelei Monsanto and 4,614 votes for candidate Alecia Wells.
In the St. John/St. Thomas District, Barshinger took 6,047 votes compared to 3,535 for Wells and 3,217 for Monsanto. Barshinger was also the clear winner at the GBS polling station where voters awarded him 127 votes compared to 57 for Monsanto and 30 for Wells.
While it was a closer race at JESS polling station, Barshinger still edged out Monsanto and Wells, garnering 311 compared to 256 and 203, respectively.
On St. Croix, Barshinger won in a landslide, taking 8,908 votes compared to 2,722 for Monsanto and 1,079 for Wells.
Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen was reelected in another landslide to claim her eighth term in the federal office. Christensen beat out three also-rans by more than 10,000 votes.
Christensen garnered 18,584 votes territory-wide compared to 4,880 votes for Jeffrey Moorhead, 2,223 votes for Vincent Danet and 397 votes for Guillame Mimoun. St. John voters at both polling stations came out in force for Christensen as well.
At the GBS station, Christensen took 170 votes compared to 19 for Moorhead, 12 for Danet and two for Mimoun. At JESS, Christensen garnered 540 votes compared to 100 votes for Moorhead, 44 votes for Danet and 10 for Mimoun.
All incumbent St. Thomas senators who ran — Carlton Dowe, Louis Hill, Shawn-Michael Malone, Patrick Simeon Sprauve, Celestino White and Alvin Williams — were reelected. Senator Adlah Donastorg, who lost in the gubernatorial primary, was replaced by Janette Millin Young.
On St. Croix, Senators Michael Thurland and Wayne James were unseated by Alicia Hansen and Ronald Russel. Incumbent Senators Neville James, Terrence Nelson, Usie Richards, Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly and Sammuel Sanes were reelected on the big island.
