Hello, and welcome to WTJX Channel 12's live coverage of the 2026 general election results.

I'm Marcelina Ventura Douglas, radio news reporter for the WTJX news feed on WTJX FM 93.1.

Tonight, Virgin Islands voters could make history by electing the territory's first female governor.

We're also watching a head-to-head race for the senator at large seat, and a new generation of candidates looking to shape the future of the legislature.

But are voters ready for a change?

We'll find out tonight.

Keep it here for up-to-the-minute coverage as the results come in.

You'll also have a chance to share your opinions in real time and be a part of the discussion.

And later, you'll hear from the candidates themselves as they call in with their reactions.

Joining me in our St.

Croix studio to break down the races, the results, and everything in between are Usie Richards, a former St.

Croix senator who served five terms in the legislature, including one as Senate President.

Neville James, also a former St.

Croix senator and Senate President, who now hosts "Analyze This" on WTJX FM 93.1.

Adriane J. Dudley a prominent St.

Thomas attorney who has practice in several areas of law and remains active in supporting local nonprofits, hospitals, and schools.

And Chari Radiance Richards-Meade Meade, an educator with 13 years of experience in the St.

Thomas, St.

John School District, a business owner, and a community advocate.

Welcome, everyone.

It is great to have you here this evening.

Good evening.

So- Good evening ... to keep things a bit informal, we're going to be on a first-name basis tonight.

Everyone is okay with that?

Yes.

Very much.

Okay, great.

Now, viewers, we want you to be a part of the discussion, too.

Throughout the evening, I'll be asking you to weigh in on some of what we're discussing right here in the studio through our real-time survey feature.

To participate, just scan the QR code on your screen with your phone or visit votes.wtjx.org.

Read the question and select your answer.

I'll share the results throughout the broadcast.

All right?

Now, here's an easy question to kick things off.

Which results are you most interested in seeing tonight?

Go ahead and make your selection.

I'll check back on your responses shortly.

All right?

Now, as we wait for those responses to come in, I want to come to you panelists, and I want to ask you, Ushi, I'm going to start with you.

Of all the races that are on the ballot, which are you most interested in seeing this evening and why?

Well, one of the reasons that I'm interested in the senatorial race, particularly here in the district of St.

Croix, given the large number of candidates that are running, approximately 24 of them, and its impact on determining the re-election of incumbents, whether or not the divvying up of votes among this large number of candidates will in fact provide an opportunity for new persons to take seats in the legislature from the district of St.

Croix.

All right.

Radiance, which race are you most interested in seeing this evening, and why?

I'm most interested in the gubernatorial race.

I am excited to see who's going to lead us into 2027.

Mm-hmm.

I feel like the Virgin Islands, we're in crisis, and I'm excited for new leadership and for someone with a real strong backbone.

As an educator, my daughter, she's six, and she's also been asking me who is going to be leading the Virgin Islands next.

So you and her are floating in the same boat.

Now, Adrienne, which race are you most interested in seeing this evening and why?

I'm interested in seeing how the young candidates are going to do against the incumbents in the St.

Thomas race especially.

Mm.

I'm really excited to see so many well-qualified people.

I've studied them, I've listened to them, and they are very well qualified, and I'm hoping that one or more of them will be elected.

All right.

Now, my fellow radio brother, Neville.

How are you?

You've been talking to these candidates on the "Candidate Speaks".

Which race are you most interested in seeing this evening, and why?

Well, because I pretty much interviewed everybody, and good night, everybody.

Oh, hey.

Good evening.

Glad to be here.

Good night to the audience.

I'm a numbers guy, so I've been watching the numbers in terms of voter participation over the last 20 years, and I was a part of that process myself and Senator Richards.

And back in 2006, 20 years ago, 35,000 voters participated in the 2006 election.

Recently, four years ago, that number went down to 22,000.

I was just doing the math while you were giving that awesome introduction.

That represents 63%- Mm-hmm ... of the number of people who voted in 2006.

So I'm looking to see if that trend continues, and we have less than 22,557 tonight.

The results are going to be what they are.

Yeah.

But I agree with everybody so far, and in particular, Radiance.

We're in crisis, and we need to admit it, and we need to get leadership to work together and get the Virgin Islands back to where we need it to be.

This is paradise.

Yeah.

That voter turnout topic, I definitely want to get into it a little bit deeper later on in the show.

But now, let's take a look at who's on the ballot.

We're going to go through the candidates race by race with their names shown on your screen exactly as they appear on the official ballot.

For the delegate to Congress candidates, we have two candidates that are on the ballot, Janelle Corsaro and Shelly A. Moorehead Five teams are competing for governor and lieutenant governor.

Adlah Fontcette Donastorg and Positive Nelson, Warren Mosler and Collin Robertson, Stacey Plaskett and Milton Potter, Oakland Benta and Merwin Potter, and Gustav James and Randolph Bennett.

In the race for senator at large, the two candidates are Angel Bolquez Jr.

and Hadiya Sewer.

For the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, the senatorial candidates are Gregory P. Smith, Duane M. DeGraff, Dr.

Krishna Kullaru, MD, Eric Tillett, Avery L. Lewis, Vernon Arrujo, Joelle S. Brown-Connors, Ray Pope Fonseca, Seney Habte, Rudel A. Hodge Jr.

Also is Imani Daniel, Chenelle Finna Francis, Alma Francis Halliger, Derrick A. Callwood, Paula A. Duke, Eugene D. Farrell, Carla Joseph, Collister M. Foy, David Sierra, and Marvin A. Blyden.

On St.

Croix, the senatorial candidates are Nemi Williams Jackson, Clifford A. Joseph, Bianca Francis, Elizabeth Hansen Watley, Tyler Courtland Fay, Luce Lucy Brown, Jose Bese Gonzalez, Troy C. Williams Sr., Kenneth Kenny Gittens, Julian S. Vera, Musta'sem "Mo" Mustafa, Kurt Vialli, Nellie Rivera O'Reilly, Samuel Carion, Alvin Milligan, Troy D. Mason, Diane Prosper, Raymond T. James, Norman "Bapo" John Baptiste, Hubert L. Frederick.

We also have Gage Edmonds, Lisa J. Charles, Franklin D. Johnson, and Jay Watson.

Next, we have the Board of Education in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District.

The candidates are Ara C. Lockhart, Bruce C. Flammond, and Judy M. Gomes.

On St.

Croix, the candidates are Vincent H.A.

Gordon Jr., Lucy M. Jackson, Winona A. Hendrix, and Terrence T. Joseph.

And for the Board of Elections, there are separate races on St.

John, St.

Thomas, and St.

Croix.

Starting with St.

John, the candidates are Preston R. Evans and Raven Phillips.

On St.

Thomas, Barbara A. Peterson, Kevin A. Rodriguez, and Harriet A. Mercer.

And on St.

Croix, Juliet L. Liburd, Franz A. Christian Jr., Kareem T. Francis, Mary Peggy Moorhead, and Shamari I. Haynes.

That rounds out the list of candidates on this year's ballot.

Many candidates and their supporters were on the streets all day today also making one last effort to win support.

Here is what our cameras caught on St.

Croix.

All right.

So we see the supporters for Nemi Jackson.

They're on the streets.

We see the supporters for Nemi Jackson, Kurt Vialli, Lisa J. Charles for Senate, and Angel Bolquez.

I believe in the green, those are supporters for Bianca Francis.

And we see those with the Vialli and their jerseys.

Those are some really nice jerseys.

Mm-hmm.

We see Samuel Carion and Nellie Rivera O'Reilly.

There we go with Adlah Fontcette Donastorg and Positive Nelson.

That is Mustafa, I believe.

Mm-hmm.

And is Elizabeth Hansen Watley, Hubert L. Frederick, they're out there.

All right.

And of course, we see the Plaskett/Potter team out there strong.

I- That's a Moorhead ... Oh, there we see Ms.

Moorhead.

She's in the shade.

I don't blame her.

It's been hot out there.

It's sunny.

We see Alvin Milligan.

Supporters-- There we go with Nellie and- Samuel Carion ... Carion again.

Clifford Joseph.

All right, with the green.

You definitely can- Yeah ... spot them on the side of the road.

You can't miss them.

All right.

Supporters for Janelle Sauraw.

I'm seeing Carion.

Carion, it seems like he had a very strong base out there today.

And Senator Vialli's- The baseball shirts ... supporters.

The baseball- The baseball shirts ... the baseball shirts.

That's a good shirt.

Really, that's something new, and I haven't seen that before.

Yeah, I like that.

I like that.

I like that.

I do like that.

Great team.

All right.

Neville and Lucy, you guys are familiar with this.

What was it like being out there when you guys were running for Senate?

Well, it was bittersweet for me, right?

Mm-hmm.

But today, I was driving in, and I said to myself, "You're a dummy."

And because I went to St.

Dunstan school.

And I went to early vote.

I should have never early vote.

I should have wait till election day and actually go and cast a vote at the school that I went to.

So next time- Mm-hmm ... next election, if they at St.

Dunstan school, nobody don't tell me nothing about early voting.

I wait till election day so I could say I voted at the school I matriculated at.

I actually did go to vote today, and I went to St.

Dunstan to vote.

And I did see that turnout.

But I want to go over to the St.

Thomas candidates and their supporters who were out there today as well.

Let's take a look.

This election, I am Rudel Beaujoie, junior number 12 on your ballot.

Go out to vote.

We have to vote if we really want change.

He looks so young and sprightly.

My goodness.

So young.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he's very young.

Ray Fonseca.

Yeah.

There we go.

Avery Lewis.

Mm-hmm.

I believe that's the Charlotte Amalie High School there in the background.

Mm-hmm.

That's correct.

Mm-hmm.

Janelle Sauraw, and the Plaskett/Potter team out there on St.

Thomas as well.

Eugene Farrell for Senate.

Chanel Fina-Francis, and the future.

Mm-hmm.

We see the future.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

We see Vernon Araujo.

I believe I saw Imani Daniel's name back there.

Kilaru.

That is Dr.

Krishna Kilaru right there.

Carla Joseph out there.

The whole plant, of course, didn't come down by tree.

Radiance, did you go and vote today over in St.

Thomas?

No, I did not.

You early voted.

I early voted.

Early voted.

I'm not a crowds person.

All right.

Derek Callwood.

I see the Donna Stagg team there as well, too.

Chanel Fina-Francis, I believe that was her, if I'm not mistaken.

Mm-hmm.

Senai Habte.

All right.

Derek Callwood, a Republican on the ticket.

Duane DeGraff.

All right.

The Sarro team.

Hi, everybody.

And the Bolstad team out there.

Oh, I missed that.

Did I?

I think that was UVI.

Oh, this is down at UVI.

Mm-hmm.

There's usually a big turnout down at UVI as well, too.

Senator Avery Lewis.

Chanel Fina-Francis, once again, definitely having a strong presence.

David Sierra there.

Ray Fonseca.

And the future.

Future.

There we go.

The future.

Their future is coming out strong.

Mm.

All right.

Adrienne, did you early vote as well today, as well?

Because I was coming here today.

Ah, okay.

I didn't want to take any chances.

You didn't want to take any chances.

But before you guys came over to St.

Croix, did you get an opportunity to drive around and see- Yes, I did.

Okay.

Yeah.

Tell me, what was it like seeing those volunteers out there campaigning?

It was fun.

I used to do it myself But my feet are bad.

It was really fun to see everybody out, and it was kind of a party, eating, drinking, dancing.

Mm-hmm.

It was great.

I loved it.

All right.

Radiance, did you get an opportunity to see those supporters out there today?

So believe it or not, I was actually looking for my son, because he was out there.

I took him out there to support Senator Ray Fonseca.

Okay.

And so, yes, I was out earlier driving around, and I love the energy.

I used to do it with my mom years ago.

Mm-hmm.

But your feet are not bad, but my knee is bad- ... and all that jumping up.

Now I want to check back in with our viewers.

We asked you which results you're most interested in seeing tonight, and here's what you had to say.

Oh.

Wow.

Wow.

64% of you are interested in seeing who the next governor and lieutenant governor are going to be, followed by the senator at large race, the St.

Thomas, St.

John Senate race, with 7% of those votes.

11% wants to see the St.

Croix Senate race, and 2% not showing as much interest in the delegate to Congress race.

Mm-hmm.

We see the delegate to Congress race is about 2%.

Any indication why you think people aren't as interested in seeing the results of that delegate to Congress race?

Well, before I respond to that, I do want to say that fortunate for me- Mm-hmm ... I took the opportunity to vote today on Election Day.

Okay.

For me, it is an experience that I enjoy, to be able to see people interact, the manner, the behavior, the moods, and the moods- Mm-hmm ... of the campaigners.

The race for delegate to Congress, I think the people of the Virgin Islands have not been able to gain a real interest in the race since the primary election- Mm-hmm ... given the fact that the Democratic candidate that won in the primary and has moved on to the general has received no real opposition from the other candidate on the ballot.

In this case, the candidate, Shelly Moorehead, who has not mounted a campaign- Yes ... to solicit and receive the support and the vote of voters who are eligible territory-wide.

Yeah.

All right.

I don't like being a bearer of bad news, but- Mm-hmm ... today I got a text message.

Apparently, we have feeder seven A in St.

Thomas is out.

Mm-hmm.

Mine.

And that's WAPA.

Of course, a big issue going into the election, and I got a text message from one of my friends on Monday sent me that, and then I just got another one saying that it's not limited to seven A. It's a number of different feeders.

No, it's a lot of them.

So this is a microcosm- That is actually- ... of what we're dealing with.

That is actually what I wanted to speak about right now.

An issue that has been on a lot of voters' minds has been WAPA.

Specifically in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, Adrienne, do you think that the issues with WAPA, what you guys have been facing with, especially in the month of October alone as well, too, do you think that that could possibly hurt incumbents in the voting booth?

It might.

It's hard to say because a lot of voters just vote for incumbents no matter what.

But people are really angry, I'm one of them, about the WAPA situation.

Being three days at my office without phone, without power, without internet.

We had a generator, but it sometimes didn't come on, and sometimes ran out of fuel, which is, I think, horrendous.

But we are hopefully going to see some solutions or at least some fresh ideas.

But I was really upset to learn that Governor Brian had terminated the director of the energy office because he started speaking truth to power about WAPA.

That was very distressing to me.

I want to give Neville an opportunity to respond to that.

But before that, I want to go to our total early voting numbers that we have as of 7:00 PM, 7,801 residents that have come out to vote, combined with early voting at 12,242.

So, the total for general elections is 20,043.

That's the numbers that we have as of right now.

Mm-hmm.

That's probably it.

Yeah.

So Neville, I want to give you an opportunity.

It's something that you have had former Energy Office Director Kyle Fleming on the show numerous times, seeing what has been occurring in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district.

I want to say the forum that he attended in Panama the time- Mm-hmm ... and all of these things kind of coming at one time.

The speculation of course, the more deduction people have deduced is that he was in fact terminated because of that sit-down interview.

Do you think that that interview was warranted of a termination?

No.

Of course.

A sanction, yes.

But why an extreme move like that?

He's a monthly member of the WTJX family because we do a powwow every first Friday of the month.

He spoke the truth.

Did he cross the line in a couple of instances because he did mention that the federal government was pretty much a safety net for our negligence, but it was factual.

That's the most important thing about it.

Of course, I get the impression that the administration are looking for scapegoats- Mm-hmm ... and what transpired in late October, and it didn't start in late October, actually, it goes back to March- Yes ... when you had that problem with the submarine cable to St.

John and the people of St.

John.

I come here tonight, I want to be optimistic, but the reality is, the Bryan Roach administration, they're not going out on a good note.

Mm-hmm.

I'm not going to leave it like that.

I agree.

Radiance, I want to give you an opportunity, too, only because you are a St.

Thomas, St.

John resident, this is something that has been affecting you.

You are also a small business owner as well, too.

How has that-- Do you think that these power disruptions are going to translate into the voting booth, those challenges?

So, I think it'll be difficult for the governor, because everybody's looking at the governor.

And so, with Brian being Democratic, the Democrat, and Stacey Plaskett being the Democrat, it's a bitter taste in a lot of people's mouth.

Like, this is what we have, is this what we're going to get next?

Mm-hmm.

I didn't really see it impacting the incumbent senators- Mm-hmm ... because the senators have been pitching it to the governor.

Mm-hmm.

But it's interesting when you hear a senator say, "I don't understand why we're having these issues when there's money for WAPA."

So, you're kind of trying to figure out who is the problem.

The problem.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

What is the problem?

Mm-hmm.

I agree with Neville, I don't think that guy should have been fired.

Maybe sanctioned, yes.

But it's easy to shut up the person that's saying something by terminating them and just putting somebody else there to fit whatever it is that they're trying to push them in to fit that puzzle piece.

But honestly, the issue has really been tremendous from March.

Mm-hmm.

It has been terrible.

And there's a pattern.

Every Carnival time- Mm ... we have ridiculous power outages.

Mm-hmm.

From March come all the way down, the power- Mm-hmm ... it's unstable, it's on, it's off.

I have even been out of power and gone down to the village, and the village has power.

Power.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

And it's disturbing.

Well, see, I want to give you an opportunity to weigh in on this, but first, Delegate to Congress, Janelle Sarow, called out Governor Brian's initial silence during the power crisis.

Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Plaskett renewed her call for a state of emergency while her campaign hosted a WAPA stress release give back.

A group of candidates calling themselves The Future, they delivered non-perishable food and cold water to seniors at the Celestino A. White Senior Citizens Home, and gubernatorial candidate Adler Fancy Dona'Star sounded off at a protest on St.

Thomas.

Here's some of what he had to say.

Understand that this is not just our issue, it's the people of the Virgin Islands issue.

And this is going to determine whether or not economically we're going to be able to survive, because no one wants to come to the Virgin Islands not during these times.

It's affecting tourism.

Not anybody who wants to leave the Virgin Islands.

It's affecting education.

It's affecting healthcare.

This is a crisis.

This is a crisis that we're confronted with.

Usi, I want to give you an opportunity.

How do you think voters viewed what these candidates did during the power crisis?

Not to put your inquiry on the side, I want to put something on the record, at least from my perspective.

I beg to differ with the position shared by some of the panelists in regards to the governor's actions with the energy director, who happens to be a person that sat in that position for almost eight years.

Mm-hmm.

Was part and parcel of the creation of these numerous solar farms- Mm-hmm ... that we are in fact paying companies to put together He said it, and in his own words, he sat on the WAPA board, served as chairman, and to be complicit in the decisions that were made in regards to power generation and then to wait three months before you leave.

If you were so dissatisfied with the work and the progress in regards to power, then what are you saying to me, who is listening, that you stayed in a job just for your salary, just to be paid, and that you didn't take a position?

And if your position is contrary to your belief, then why stay on the job?

And why put the governor in a position to have to remove you and to say all that you have to say three months before the governor term is up?

So, those kind of action, I think we have to look at both sides of the coin.

And I assure that caught the governor off guard because I've listened to his statements of what he shared as part of this podcast, and I understand clearly why it may infuriate any person.

I don't know whoever the governor or the person that is responsible for his performances.

Do you think-- I want to ask, do you think the governor would have terminated Director Fleming if-- I think it was a series of unfortunate events at one time because the podcast came out at the same time that the St.

Thomas, St.

John district was dealing with severe challenges, so it seemed to compound the overall environment.

Do you think that the governor would have still made the decision to terminate him if power had been on in the territory in both the St.

Thomas, St.

John district and in St.

Croix, and WAPA was not facing the challenges that they were facing right now?

That's a subject matter for me to be making a presumption.

What I discuss and what I share, I share on the actual factual matters that are before all of us who are in the community.

I've seen Kyle Fleming.

I don't know him personally.

I've listened to all of the things that he has promoted and spoke of under his auspices of the energy office and what they've been doing.

And to come to the almost end of his term, although it came abruptly, and make the comments that he spoke of, then I am somewhat flabbergasted.

Right.

I think with his own context, though.

Yes.

From this perspective, not that I totally disagree with Ushi, but this is the same Kyle Fleming, when he was the chairman, which Ushi pointed out that he served as the chairman of the WAPA board- Yes ... would come to WTJX, analyze this the first Friday of every month, sit there and take the beating on behalf of WAPA's failure.

So are we to say it's all right for him to sit there and be a punching bag when things are going bad, and then when he makes a statement, which I believe contextually was misinterpreted by this administration.

How I interpreted was, he was saying, "We've had a safety net that even predated the Bryan Roach administration."

They took this personal and they decided, "Well, we got to take action, and we're going to get rid of him."

They had the right to do that, though.

At any time, a governor can send home any cabinet member without cause.

Right?

I understand that, but the timing of it to me- Not good ... looks like a scapegoat type of thing because of the tragedy that was taking place in St.

Thomas.

Three days without power, and the residents of St.

Thomas and St.

John.

And I want to say this, Crucians have never felt for St.

Thomasian and St.

Johnian- ... like we did when we were hearing- Yeah ... how they were bawling.

Yeah.

And finally, it wasn't hurricane related.

That's what was really frustrating for a lot of people.

Yeah, and just to Neville's point, I am not disagreeing with the aspects of the situation that Neville has pointed out.

Mm-hmm.

What I'm speaking to is, and this must be personal, if I'm working in a particular position and I have principles that I believe in as a person that occupy a job, and I realize that the principles that I am exuding and seeking to have adopted and accomplished in my role and duties and responsibility on the job, and they are being hampered or they're not being considered or they don't fall within the realm of being able to be implemented, then why am I still sitting on the job other than the fact I'm receiving a salary?

It's a guava crap.

Yes, and it's not- It's guava crap versus principles, and for me- Yes ... is the principle of the thing.

All right.

Now, I want us to get back to analyzing- Enough.

Analyzing this election.

Now, we're going to move on to the St.

Thomas, St.

John Senate race, where six incumbents are hoping to keep their seats from more than twice as many challengers.

Adrian, which of these incumbents do you think appear the strongest to you?

And which appear the most vulnerable, and why?

Okay.

The strongest, I think, are Avery Lewis and-- Oh, gosh.

Joseph, Bladen.

Joe-- Yeah, Bladen.

Carla Joseph.

I think they're probably the strongest because Joseph chaired the rules committee, and that's a very powerful position.

Bladen, housing, and housing is always a crisis.

And I think the most vulnerable are, well, I think DeGraff possibly, and let me look at my list.

Well, we have- They're the incumbent right there.

Oh, sorry.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

I appreciate that.

And I don't-- Maybe Senator Heiliger, but it's really hard because these are incumbents who've lasted two and three terms.

Mm-hmm.

So it's hard to say that anybody's truly vulnerable.

And of course, there's only one vacancy.

Mm-hmm.

And we'll see who fills that.

My guess is going to be Vernon Arroujo.

Okay.

Radian, so I want to give you an opportunity to respond.

Which incumbents do you think are the strongest, and who may be a little bit vulnerable?

So I would like to think that Senator Lewis, like Adrian said, he has a strong hold.

In terms of a front runner, I don't really see a front runner.

Mm-mm.

It's really difficult to say.

But I honestly feel that a lot of them could just be vulnerable because of the angst that's on St.

Thomas.

Mm-hmm.

The people are really upset.

And it's not just WAPA, it's the price of food, it's the price of gas.

It's just the quality of life.

People are really upset.

I think Senator Heiliger might be vulnerable.

I know at some point, somebody posted on Facebook the legislations that senators had passed.

Mm-hmm.

And some of the highest were- Sponsored ... Carla Joseph, Ray Fonseca.

Mm-hmm.

And some of the lowest were Alma Heiliger and DeGraff.

So it's- But doesn't that speak to them kind of being in the minority?

They are minority members.

They're not a part of the majority.

Mm-hmm.

So they might have a little bit more difficulty in garnering the support of their colleagues.

And I'm s-- I, no?

You- I don't feel so ... don't feel that way?

I don't agree with that.

No, I don't feel that way.

Okay.

Because I- Oh, sorry.

I want to ask, we've seen the medical challenges that residents are facing in the territory.

Fonseca, as the chair of the Health and Hospitals- Right ... Committee.

Those challenges, don't you see them translating in some way that he could possibly be vulnerable of being ousted, Radian?

That's why I feel the way I feel.

Okay.

I feel that a lot of them are vulnerable.

I really don't see many of them being strong because of all of the challenges.

You have the hospital, you have the schools.

The Department of Education lost $10 million out of their budget.

Mm-hmm.

And these are the same legislators, the senators that you're going to, and you are crying- Mm-hmm ... the people are crying to them.

But you're doing things like taking $10 million away from the students, from the kids.

Mm-hmm.

You're taking money that should've been going to the hospital and using it for something else.

Right.

So I just feel that everybody's vulnerable.

I do feel that Senator Lewis has a really good chance.

He has put out a lot of really good legislations.

Mm-hmm.

And Senator Joseph as well, she has been out there fighting.

But people are upset in St.

Thomas.

Well, one of the things as an incumbent that we experience is that it's one thing to say we're getting rid of senators.

Mm-hmm.

It's the next thing to find candidates to beat them.

That's true.

Yeah.

And in this particular case, where you have, what?

22 or 20 candidates running in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, another 24 on St.

Croix.

Mm-hmm.

That kind of spreads out and thins out who might be better candidates had there been 12 to 14 or 16.

Yeah.

So that number, you've got to factor in the numbers dynamic as well.

Neville makes a good point about the quality of candidates.

I think for me, this is the first year I have seen, in the future, if you will, a group of candidates that I can look at and say, "Oh, well, this is a nice change."

Huge.

And they- These aren't people looking for a paycheck.

They definitely put up a united front- Mm-hmm ... in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district race.

Four of these challengers, they are associated with The Future.

They're a group of millennial candidates that have been campaigning together across three races, and presenting themselves as a new generation of political leadership.

Now, Adrian, you were just talking about them as well, too.

Neville, I want to give you an opportunity, too.

I believe you spoke with all of these candidates on the Candidates Speaks.

Mm-hmm.

Tell me, based off of your discussions with them, beyond the message of younger leadership, what stood out to you the most about those candidates that are part of The Future?

First of all, all of them are highly articulate.

Mm-hmm.

I don't even think I spoke nearly as well as Incredibly articulate.

... when I was their age.

That's number one.

Number two, I did ask of, I believe it was Candidate Daniel, why they didn't include St.

Croix senators as part of The Future and make it a territorial move.

Because obviously I live on St.

Croix, and I would like to see it be a territorial thing.

Additionally, I believe they made one mistake.

They have one of their candidates running as a Democrat, and the remaining candidates running as a- Ah, as independents ... as independents.

Yeah.

That was not- I do want to go- I think Rudel Hodge, I believe is a candidate.

Yes, Rudel Hodge.

He is a co-founder of The Future.

Mm-hmm.

And he's also running for Senate as a Democrat.

Two weeks after the Democratic primary, Hodge attended a campaign kickoff for independent gubernatorial candidate Oakland Benta.

Here's some video from that event.

Mm.

Wow, I didn't even know he had a highlight reel.

Good.

I didn't, yeah.

I am here joined on stage by a slate of candidates that I am running with.

We call ourselves The Future.

So I am here with Rudel A. Hodge, Jr., Esq., Dr.

Senae Kapins, and Vernon Arroujo.

We started this because we wanted to start a voting block of Millennials and Gen Z to get them excited about civic engagement And The Future here.

Good afternoon, all.

This is Rudel Hodge, chairman aspirant, and I'm so happy to be here for this kickoff event.

I just placed fourth in the Democratic primary with over 1,000 votes.

I also voted for- Now, we recently spoke with Carol Burke, state chairwoman for the Democratic Party of the US Virgin Islands, and she said party leaders had confronted Rudel Hodge about his involvement with The Future.

Mm-hmm.

Here's some of what she said.

Hmm.

Both myself and others in leadership roles were very firm with Mr.

Hodge that standing as a Democrat who was certified by the party to run under its banner, use its names, and its value, and then you turn around and choose to be aligned with another entity that's running as a SLATE.

And we, on more than one occasion, have addressed that issue with Mr.

Hodge, and he has said to me, in my capacity, that he has disassociated himself.

But there have been a lot of rumblings, there's been a lot of photos that were taken, and there was a lot of other content that was used where it seems to be very obvious that he was very much aligned with them.

And as we speak, what I've told Mr.

Hodge is if there's any more of that, the party will withdraw our support, and that's with regards to our own coordinated campaign.

Mm-hmm.

Burke also confirmed that Hodge, along with all the other candidates in the Democratic primary, that they had signed a pledge of loyalty to the party and its coordinated campaign.

Now, Adrian- Mm.

... hearing that- Mm-hmm ... what could that mean for Rudel Hodge's relationship with the Democratic Party if he's elected to the legislature?

Well, I think he has to choose.

Either he's part of The Future, and they're running as independents, or he's a Democrat.

And I think what he's trying to do is get a piece of each pie.

And that's because he feels that to get elected, he needed to be part of the Democratic Party.

But because he doesn't have the cover, if you will, of all the incumbents in St.

Thomas, St.

John, in the Democratic Party, he would align himself, because he's younger, with The Future.

He's also a delegate to the constitutional convention.

I did not feel that this was a huge handicap until I thought about it from the political difference.

If you're going to be part of the party and run under the symbol, if you will, although I didn't really notice a symbol this year, then I think you have to stick with that.

And I don't think that was fair to his fellow candidates.

But they stayed with him.

Mm-hmm.

Carol said, "Ain't no way if you keep this up."

So I think he'll have to learn party discipline one way or the other.

If he is elected and there's a majority forming around Democrats, does Attorney Hodge risk being excluded from that majority?

Well, I think it depends on his conduct between the election, first, the results of the election, where he comes in, if in fact, he is successful.

But also his conduct after that, whether or not he's loyal to the party, or whether or not he's helping The Future get geared up for yet another election, or some other political activity in the meantime.

The beauty about that, though, is that the party got no say- Mm-hmm ... with how the senators want to form.

That's true.

If the party got a problem with him, that's on them.

That's on them, yes.

Because in the legislature, we've had coalition majorities many of times before, and I believe- Mm-hmm ... what legislature are we now, the 36th?

Yes.

Yeah.

In the 34th legislature, I believe when Senator Samuel Carion won, he became a member of the majority, which was mostly Democrats, so he going to be all right.

I just think The Future is a good approach, but they needed to tweak it and just look at the impact that it would have had.

Mm-hmm.

But I don't think The Future really is so much anti-Democrat.

And I just think- No ... I think The Future really is about young people.

Yes.

Yes.

Exactly.

And if you're coming for that, then we should really support that type of thing.

Young people.

Right.

Now, Neville, during the last election cycle, Democratic Senator Diane Capart endorsed independent senators Frankie Johnson and Samuel Carion, and at a re-election event that they had held.

Now, there were other Democrats at the said event, but they did not take the stage.

Hmm.

How can the Democratic Party enforce their efforts to have all candidates coalesce around their team?

Lucie, how do you see that?

Everybody's a Democrat.

That's an excellent question, by the way.

I believe it really speaks to party politics and the struggle party politics has in the Virgin Islands right now.

We got to change that.

Mm-hmm.

I think that's one of the reasons why we're struggling as a people.

Of course, one of the easy political arguments is, "I'm for the people before the party," and all that.

Mm-hmm.

But look, we need an agenda.

You know what I'm saying?

We need a platform.

What do you represent?

Are you really for the people, or are you articulating for the people so that you can get the people's support, and then when you get in there, you use the excuse- Mm-hmm ... "Well, I'm not a part of the party, so don't blame it on me, blame it on them."

It's interesting.

I want to look nationally.

Why not?

Lucie, I'm going to come to you.

Just this past Sunday, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens- Oh ... who lost the Democratic primary for US Senate to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.

The Michigan Democratic Party chairman responded by declaring that Stevens was no longer a member of the party.

Lucy, do you think that our local Democratic Party should take a cue from what's happening on the mainland and get tougher on that kind of behavior?

Do we have that kind of behavior?

My concern, and I hate to do this, I believe this is the third time that I'm doing this.

Because we are skipping over some topics without taking some things into proper perspective.

The Democratic Party in the past has always been instrumental, despite the statement from Neville, in putting their hands and their feet into the process of the organization of a majority.

And historically, that has been the case, though for the most recent times, it has, in fact, moved away from itself.

Because I recall when Senator Emmett Hanson had to apologize- Oh, yeah ... for being part of a non-democratic majority.

I recall just in the recent- Mm-hmm ... current legislature of the 36th, where there was opposition in allowing Senator Violi to take over as chairman of the finance committee by party bosses- Mm-hmm ... because of the fact that he ran as an independent- Mm-hmm ... gubernatorial candidate.

And so the subject matter of political parties, I think it's important, it's structured, and I expect that trend will not continue with this upcoming legislature because of the fact of some of the other political shenanigans that we've now seen for this particular election that involve members that came out of the Democratic Party primary- Mm-hmm ... engaging with individuals to promote their campaign- Mm-hmm ... and seek support for them to be elected to a particular office.

That will be very interesting to see how the party handle that subject matter.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you know what I find puzzling is that we have 11 Republicans, and everybody else is a Democrat, or they don't want to have a party, so they're independent.

But the Democrats have controlled the majority forever.

Donkey years.

Yeah, donkey years.

Thank you.

For a long time.

And I kind of took it for granted that you would want to align yourself with the one party that we have, the one organized party- Mm-hmm ... because I don't see ICM, although they did field a candidate this year.

Mm-hmm.

I don't see ICM really active the way they used to be.

Yeah.

Now, let's take a closer look at the senator at large race.

Radiance, looking at both of the candidates, who do you think ran a more effective campaign this election season?

Oh, my goodness.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, my goodness.

I would have to say Hedia Sauer.

Mm-hmm.

She was stuck in a lot of people's minds.

Mm-hmm.

I viewed some of the debate between her and Senator Bocas, and it was mind-blowing- It was mind-blowing ... because she has this passion.

And I get it.

You are passionate about it, but it was a bit overwhelming.

And Senator Bocas, I don't know if it's because he's been there so long that he has the mannerism of, "Okay, I've got this.

I've done this, I've done that.

Don't challenge my residents and don't challenge this."

Mm-hmm.

But I think her position on the refinery- Mm-hmm ... may determine whether people will vote for her, whether they'll turn out for her or for Bocas, because there are a lot of mixed feelings about the refinery- Mm-hmm ... and its reopening.

So like I said, I'm just anxious to see the numbers and see how people vote.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

Now, last month, WTJX and the Virgin Islands Consortium, we brought the candidates face-to-face for a debate, and we asked pointed questions that went beyond their campaign promises.

Here's what Senator Bocas had to say about pleading no contest to his ethics violation.

Mm-hmm.

Mr.

Bocas, your ethics investigation involved allegation of workplace harassment and financial mismanagement.

You pleaded no contest to violating your oath of office, and your colleagues reprimanded and suspended you without pay.

The resolution specifically describes an unsubstantiated payroll fraud accusation you made against an employee.

What responsibility do you accept for your conduct, and why should voters trust you to hold government officials accountable when you failed to uphold those standards in your own office?

Allegations and complaints do not constitute guilt.

This matter was thoroughly investigated by the committee, which included three retired law enforcement officers with extensive investigation, and if there was any reason for me to be ousted out of the legislature, that would have happened.

So the understanding is, yes, you were not out, but there was a reprimand that the same committee you spoke of decided to go ahead and put in place.

Mm-hmm.

Do you see any responsibility on your end there for your conduct?

And again, why should Virgin Islanders trust you to hold leaders accountable when you fail on those standards?

Yeah, we pleaded no contest because we wanted to move on.

So you see no wrong on your end at all?

There was nothing done wrong on your end?

I worked very hard.

I take my job seriously.

And I expect that anyone who is associated with my office does the same.

So we moved on.

We pleaded no contest to move on, and I wish everyone well, but that is why we moved on with no contest.

I want to go to our legal expert on the panel.

Of course.

Adrian, in a matter like this, what does pleading no contest actually mean?

And what do you make of Senator Boulkiah's explanation for doing so?

Well, pleading no contest is supposed to mean, "Well, I'm not going to argue about this because you have evidence, and I just don't want to be involved in a crossfire.

And I don't want to say I'm guilty, but I really can't say I'm innocent either."

In his case, however, I don't think he really responded well to that question.

And part of it is because he's very embarrassed by what happened, and it happened in his office.

Mm-hmm.

And it's unfortunate that there wasn't more to this process, as in proof, as in testimony.

But because he's a senator, I think he kind of slid by with this.

And that's unfortunate.

We should not condone allegation-- Well, I shouldn't say we condone allegations, but we shouldn't condone conduct of this kind without digging a little deeper and saying, "Well, I mean, there's alleged dishonesty in the handling of funds in your office?"

That's not a good look.

And for him to say no contest, maybe it's because he did not have a champion fighting on his behalf.

And that could be part of it.

He doesn't, I don't think, have a lot of experience dealing with the legal system.

And more than likely, someone said, "Well, if you plead no contest, it'll all go away."

And frankly, that's what happened.

Mm-hmm.

I agree.

That's what I felt.

Mm-hmm.

He just kind of, "No contest.

I've got this.

I'm going to just slide by."

Mm-hmm.

Let's move on.

Do you think that it's going to have an impact?

It could have an impact on the results tonight.

Is he in trouble?

I think if people are really following it or they've- Mm-hmm ... been following it, I would say yes.

Mm-hmm.

And Sewar did.

She has been out there.

She really has.

Yes.

She's very effective.

Yes.

She's very articulate.

I was really impressed with her.

All right.

Another exchange from the WTJX debate worth talking about came when I asked challenger Dr.

Hadiya Sewar where she stood on the proposed reopening of the St.

Croix refinery.

Here's what she had to say.

Mm.

In your recorded comments about the refinery, you emphasize its health and environmental cost and proposed greener industries, including research, professional services, and light manufacturing.

Port Hamilton is targeting a 2027 restart of the refinery, and Governor Bryan has projected more than 400 jobs from its reopening.

Do you support reopening the St.

Croix refinery, yes or no?

No.

Explain.

I would argue that the environmental and the public health impact creates a significant financial and health burden for the people of the Virgin Islands.

And I would also note that at the time of the Hovensa closing, they were experiencing about 1.3 billion in losses.

And at the attempt to restart Lime Tree Bay, Lime Tree Bay experienced about 4 billion in losses.

And so I firmly believe that the job projections do not necessarily prove that we have a viable restart on the table, and we are asking our community to bear both the health risk and the environmental risk of the experimentation.

So when will Crucians see the jobs and industries you speak of?

Will the income level of those jobs be comparable to the infusion of middle-class jobs on St.

Croix and the businesses the income supports on the island?

When will these jobs that you speak of become available?

I actually believe that we can have environmental jobs created in the territory within 12 to 24 months.

And I would also argue that small and midsize businesses providing light manufacturing, also digital services, could have not only a faster restart if we change legislation, not only around remote work, but also create incentives to attract more of those companies to the territory- I would really like- ... without the potential negative downsides.

I would like you to explain again, between the 12 and 24 months, you say those things, but how do we get there?

You have a plan for that?

Yes.

Actually, I find that we have so many people in the territory who are prepared to do remote work, and we need legislation to really advance that and to allow people who are in digital and software industries to create jobs in the territory almost immediately.

And then I would also argue that it is quite possible for people to establish and domicile businesses within the territory almost immediately around the other solution.

I agree with that.

It is really hard to start a new business, particularly light manufacturing.

We don't support it.

If you want to start a business, the grief that you get, starting from trying to get a license, to getting all your corporate documents and so forth, you have to hire somebody like me or somebody else to do that for you.

A lay person can't go down to DLCA and say, "I'd like to get a business license."

"Well, we need a this, and we need a this, and we need a this, and we need a this."

That's perfect.

And it's the same deal with every agency.

It is really- hard.

And it's because we do have some very old-fashioned laws that dictate that this is how the government has to operate.

We could clean up a lot of this by simply streamlining our statutes.

Mm.

Usi, what impact, if any, do you believe Dr.

Sewer's opposition to reopening the refinery, that it could have on her support among Crucian voters?

My response would be cast in the presentation that she had on a couple of radio talk shows in regards to this topic- Mm Mm ... and the response that was given by persons in the community to the abrupt and finite manner in which she had took the stance in regards- Mm-hmm ... to a refinery.

You're speaking to an audience of people in St.

Croix who have- Desperate ... experienced for a long time, a decline in economy, a decline in number of jobs that came from the refinery- Mm ... a decline in the amount of money that is circulated in the economy- Mm ... based on jobs that came out of the refinery.

We can talk about that.

Yeah.

And so it sings a different song.

Mm-hmm.

I understand the position that she has shared, and I am fortunate enough to have been around in a time where watch factories were king and queens- Mm-hmm Mm-hmm ... on the island district of St.

Croix.

And that's gone, and we suffered immensely.

Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceuticals.

And some of these same pharmaceutical company, not only left, but left and went next door- Door ... to Puerto Rico.

Yeah.

That was awful.

And so the subject matter of having bread to put butter on- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm ... always outweighs the subject of- Well, you have bread at home ... preventative- Mm-hmm ... measures that can be taken in the operation- Mm-hmm ... of an oil refinery.

And right now, we don't have butter, much less bread.

Exactly.

Bread to put butter on.

And I think- Not that, but- But that is the impact ... no.

Most of you are aware of that, yeah ... that's the impact in our community.

And I know in number, and I don't mean to speak at length of this, but in number of individuals that got their experience and their training- Through them ... through what was then Hovensa.

Mm-hmm.

May have become Hovensa.

Yes, or Hovensa.

Now I'm just thinking with the oil refinery, Neville.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

And you could run to Texas and get outside of Houston- Get a good job ... not get a good job, and be able to ident... That's why you have a big Virgin Islanders organization out in Houston.

A lot of these people- Mm-hmm ... came from the Virgin Islands- That's right ... working the refinery and moved there- Mm-hmm ... to continue work, have children born here, and raised there.

Mm.

Yeah.

You see?

And so that, I don't know how to wrap that one up, but it's beyond a pretzel.

But what about another industry?

My sister married a Hovensa guy, so just saying.

But what about another industry?

Because one of the ideas that I had told the governor, when you had the food companies like Tyson Chicken, when they were having issues with finding places to manufacture chicken, St.

Croix is a large place.

Mm-hmm.

Why not have a partnership where they can set up a manufacturer here in St.

Croix?

There's a lot of land.

We have a stable climate environment.

Mm-hmm.

Whereas in the States, you have four seasons, but here, it's basically one season all year round.

We can look into other industries as well.

The point that you brought up really crystallizes the mistake that was made back in the '60s- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm ... when our forefathers, to include my father- Mm-hmm ... he was a part of legislature back then.

Right?

And they brag about, "We created the middle class on St.

Croix."

Mm-hmm.

Right?

They didn't diversify the economy.

Right.

And when they went the Hess and Hovensa route, heavy industry, right?

We actually threw all our eggs in one basket.

Mm-hmm.

And as a result of that, when the refinery shuttered in 2012, and you know, Marcy, as a numbers man, and I spoke about how- You are the numbers guy.

... voter turnout has gone down.

The greatest drop in a four-year period, between 2006 and 2026, was between the 2010 and 2014 election- Yeah ... when almost 7,000 less voters participated in 2014 as opposed to 2010.

And it's no surprise because the refinery was shuttered in 2012.

You're talking 2,000 employees- Yeah ... making anywhere from 60 to 70,000 a year.

Just gross numbers, that's 120 to $140 million of tax base gone out the window.

Yeah, but I don't want Radiance to have the impression that, at least for me, I can't speak for Neville, but I think she needs to consume this statement made by Adrian.

There's nothing wrong with the type of industries that you just pointed out.

Mm-hmm.

It is- The process of getting a business ... the process.

I understand The timeline.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

The only reason Hovensa is being discussed is it's sitting there.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

It's here.

Yeah.

St.

Croix has the largest oil refinery in the Western Hemisphere- Hemisphere ... the second largest in the world.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

O-R-L-E.

And it's sitting there- And- ... become an eyesore ... to have that just shut down is an eyesore, and have all this stuff here, and the amount of impact that it had on the territory- Mm-hmm ... for the amount of years that it was there- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm ... is not an easy discussion to just swipe off the table.

Mm-hmm.

And I would consider myself an environmentalist, too, and as a- ... health professional.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

But you understand that we're now in 2026.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And technology of 2003 is not the- Right ... same technology of- No, I understand ... 2026.

Correct.

Yeah.

And so that's basically not my position, but how people in St.

Croix who will- Not just St.

Croix.

Who are suffering, because back then we had people from St.

Thomas came over here and- To work ... got meaningful employment.

Mm-hmm.

Even in some instances were temporary- Mm-hmm ... when they had the, what do you call the place down- Turn Around.

The Turn Around ... the man camp.

The man camp, yeah.

The Turn Around, yeah.

Which is a Turn Around, but they had a big man camp.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

People not from not only the Caribbean and St.

Thomas, from all over came here.

Yeah.

But one quick note to wrap this up.

The refinery at its apex- Mm-hmm ... or at least at the time when it closed, right, you had 2,500 employees.

Only 500 were working for Ovintiv.

Mm-hmm.

The other 2,000- Right ... were contractors- Contract employees ... contractors employing them.

Yes So that's the kind of impact that we were dealing with, and we dealing with it now.

So you're thinking a 400 would be good?

It would suffice?

No, what I'm saying is- No, no ... any amount would suffice- Okay ... because we struggling.

But to get back to that number with all of the small companies, you need a lot of small companies to get anywhere near the number, the impact that we're talking about.

But if you have a large refinery, assuming it can be more environmentally sensitive, because as Ucie points out, technology has changed the business of refining oil considerably.

But if you have a large facility like that, it spins off into many, many small businesses.

Not just the subs who are working there, but things like the store, somebody's little dress shop, or even a nail salon.

The banks would benefit.

Hairdresser, the banks.

Yeah.

I can tell you, I listened to them.

Yeah.

Still crying about it.

Yeah.

Now, viewers- Mm-hmm ... we have two questions for you about the senator at large race.

Mm-hmm.

So I want you to take out the phones, scan those QR codes.

Mm-hmm.

First, did Senator Boulkiah's ethics issue influence your vote?

And second, did Dr.

Stewart's position against reopening the St.

Croix refinery influence your vote?

Scan the QR code on your screen, or visit votes.wtjx.org to answer both questions.

Mm-hmm.

We'll share the results later on in the broadcast.

All right?

Mm-hmm.

You missed one question before you asked them to answer those two.

Uh-huh.

Did you all vote?

That's a good point.

Very good point.

Did you register to vote?

Are you registered to vote?

And did you vote?

Wow.

And that's one of the things, Radiance, we have people all caught up with the technology.

Love the QR codes and all these things.

I know.

But are not doing the functional thing that requires- Mm-hmm ... the opportunity to make change.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, gosh.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Now, let's turn our attention to the- Mm-hmm ... St.

Croix Senate race, where five incumbents- Mm-hmm ... are hoping to- I'm not sure now.

Let's talk ... five incumbents are facing- Mm-hmm ... nearly four times as many challengers.

Oh, God.

Neville- Mm-hmm ... which of the incumbents look strongest to you on St.

Croix, and which look a little vulnerable?

Well, in recent times, when it come to the Senate race, you got debt, taxes, and Court Valle winning by a big margin.

Right?

And seriously, he laps the field.

He does.

Right?

He's expected to win, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't- Big time ... win, and win comfortably, right?

In the primary, I believe, it came Valle, I think it was Joseph?

Joseph Gittens.

Joseph Gittens.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Nemie, Nemie Williams.

Lisa.

Lisa Charles, and then Hubert Fredericks, and Jose B. Segonzalies- Correct ... out of the top seven, right?

Mm-hmm.

So I see three of the four for sure- Mm-hmm ... going back in.

I also see Frankie Johnson as a top non-Democrat.

And by the way, I'd like to-- I've been throwing this around.

We got two parties in the Virgin Islands right now, Democrat and non-Democrat.

Correct.

We had the ICM party and the Republican Party.

It ain't really have the kind of- No ... impact that they used to have- Mm-mm ... back in the day.

So that's why I said Hubert Fredericks, he finished, was it sixth in the primary or fifth?

Sixth in the primary, so he got a lot of work to do.

That don't mean he can't win.

The last time I won Marceline, I finished sixth in the primary, and I finished seventh in the general election.

So he could win.

And he been campaigning hard, because if it's one thing will wake you up, right, is a performance, your performance in the primary.

So it'll be interesting to see how they make out.

We also got a couple former senators- Yes ... who are in the election as well, right?

Who are coming in, yes.

Nellie Rivera O'Reilly- Mm-hmm ... and Norman John Baptist.

Unfortunately for Senator John Baptist- That's right ... since 2008, he hasn't really been a real contender- Contender ... for whatever reason.

Now, with Senators Maurice James and Novo Francis Jr.

not seeking re-election, at least two challengers are guaranteed to be elected.

Ucie, who do you think has the strongest chance of grabbing those two seats and why?

You going to ask her that.

That's a hard one.

I'm asking you who you think ran in the St.

Croix district, ran a rather- Oh, this is- ... formidable campaign and garnered the attention of the people to be able to secure a seat And you have reduced it to two seats.

I'm- Sure.

No, but allow me.

If all of the incumbents were to be successful and we have the two seats, in that scenario, who do you see being the two to secure those seats?

Well, I'm beginning with, at the point of disagreeing with Neville.

Okay.

But- For the record, we're never on the same side of it.

Well, we served four terms together.

So this is nothing new.

This is nothing new.

So we're good.

It's nothing new.

I'm just disagreeing with his premise- Okay ... not with his person.

And so my disagreement come to the fact of his experience of finishing sixth and now coming back in January finishing seventh.

Now when I look at the Senate primary that passed in Democratic Party primary for the Senate race that passed in September, and I look at the order of the candidates that finished at top seven, I said to myself that incumbent Frederick may find himself in a difficult task to get reelected.

And he has since then, as Neville pointed out, been awakened and campaigning very hard.

To answer the question directly, we're looking at 16, Neville, 16 independent candidates.

I know.

That's incredible.

16 independent candidates- That's incredible ... that have run 16 individual campaigns.

Not- Not together at all?

Not aligned on a no basic set of political principles.

Principles, yeah.

Oh, that's too bad.

That have not decided that amongst themselves as independents that me and Neville are two independents, we're going to get ourself together and run as a team as if when we had Petrus and Patter- Yeah ... in St.

Thomas and Jag District.

Mm-hmm.

And so that is not an easy task- Mm-hmm ... for me to say that this one person will make it up.

I'm saying it's going to be a contest- Mm-hmm ... that I can certainly say.

And I don't want to leave the viewers out there and some of the campaign supporters- Mm-hmm ... a little uncomfortable prior to the results being issued.

Okay.

And we could talk with some meat on the bone.

Okay.

He doesn't want to say.

No.

No, no.

That's his way of saying he don't want to say.

Don't ask him the question.

No, I'm not one that don't want to say.

I'm one that think that it's- You want a little more evidence.

No.

No, I think it's a risk that they have to run for.

That's all right.

Yeah, you're right there.

There's a lot of factors- No ... and no one of them in the 16 stand out.

I know of, let me finish it by saying- Okay ... of the 16, I could eliminate eight.

Okay.

I can tell you that for sure.

Yeah.

On the St.

Croix ballot, it also includes former senators who have been trying to make a comeback, as Neville pointed out.

One of them is Norman "Bapo" John Baptiste, who served five consecutive terms in the legislature before being voted out in 2008.

He made unsuccessful attempts to regain his seat in 2010, 2012, 2018, 2020- Hi goodness ... and 2024.

He missed 2022.

Now, Ussi, what do you think happened to the support of your former colleague, the support that your former colleague once had, and it's not translating in these past campaigns?

You're always forcing me in a position to try to be nice.

Okay, don't be nice.

Is he one of the eight?

Just be honest.

Well, based on historical factors, I would say yes, that he is one of the eight.

Okay.

If in fact, the last time I was in the legislature, I believe I was a candidate in the 2010 election, of which I was successful, and thereby I took office in January of 2011, and left in January of 2013.

He was not in there and was not successful then.

I don't know.

One of the things that I believe, and I've mentioned it, I believe, during the presentation of the documentary on the late governor, Charles Turnbull.

I don't think people-- He may think people forget, but there's a good percentage of people that remember that if it wasn't for him making a quorum on the floor, Alden and Neville would get a lot of licks for being outside of the territory with this urgently called special session.

Mm-hmm.

And we were in a minority.

We had enough senators to stop them from having a quorum of eight to consider, what it be, number again?

Act 6905.

Act 6905 that gave a raise- The most infamous act in the history- In the history of the Virgin Islands.

I don't remember it.

That's the one with senator's salaries.

Oh, yes.

And he made it up to the floor to establish a quorum- Mm-hmm ... so they could vote on it and voted for it.

But people, Crucians are some funny people in general, whether they born here- We didn't say that ... there or anywhere.

We're funny because we don't forget easy on them.

No.

And I don't think that- People forgot ... that he has acknowledged the fact that people see that as a major concern.

Yeah.

As a matter of fact- People didn't forget ... Ussi brings up a good point.

Mm-hmm.

In the next election in 2008, four incumbents lost and only three incumbents survived, which Ussie, myself, and positively Nelson survived.

I also forgot to mention Senator Carrion is a former senator.

A former senator.

Yes.

Along with Senator O'Reilly and Senator John Baptiste.

Speaking of Senator O'Reilly, she was once a top vote-getter in the St.

Croix district, serving five terms before deciding not to run again in 2018.

Six years later, she tried to return.

She lost in the Democratic primary and even mounted an unsuccessful write-in campaign.

Mm-hmm.

Now she's on the ballot again as an independent.

Neville, you served with Senator O'Reilly.

What do you think happened to the support that kept Rivera O'Reilly in the legislature for those 10 years?

I have studied her ... campaign.

I mean, her political history is really amazing.

When she won in 2008, she actually beat me and Ussie.

2008 was a rough year.

I just mentioned it- Was there a storm?

... at convention.

It was a combination of WAPA, because remember the oil prices had spiked that year to almost $150 a barrel, 6905, and affordability, which Radiance spoke about now, which things just keep repeating itself over and over again.

She won in 2008.

In 2010, she was the leading vote getter- Mm.

... in that election.

And by 2014, which is four years later, she had finished seventh and actually had to go to court to stop a count because Senator Hansen, Allisa Chucky Hansen, had mounted- Mm-hmm ... a write-in campaign- Mm-hmm ... and she was questioning the whole process.

The process.

And I never quite understood- Three.

How Senator O'Reilly- Yeah ... was so popular.

Mm-hmm.

And then all of a sudden, lost that shine.

I have a conversation with Tanya Singh, our CEO.

Mm-hmm.

And I said, "People ignore that shine component."

When the shine come off for you- Mm-hmm ... right, you got to work so hard- To get it back ... just to get people to- Mm-hmm ... appreciate what you did.

And what happened with Senator O'Reilly was she supported Senator Vialy in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

Ah.

And then when she chose to run as a Democrat in 2024, she lost in the primary.

I believe had she ran as an independent- Independent ... in 2024, it might have been a little bit different.

Not a guarantee she was going to win.

Can we hold you partially responsible?

At one point, did you encourage her to change her party affiliation?

Because once she got those top numbers, she wasn't a Democratic candidate.

She was independent.

No.

Correct.

She was independent.

Correct.

And you were in there with her- Correct ... and she changed- She changed to Democrat- ... Democrat to join your majority?

After the 2016 election.

Okay.

Because she had never been a part of the majority.

Uh-huh.

And she wanted to be in the majority with the- Under your urging, or no comments?

Okay.

All right.

I'm just checking.

I never had that kind of call.

Okay.

All right, gentlemen.

All right.

Now, candidates- I don't want Ussie to never show up on that day.

No, I was just wondering.

You four are- We got great partners here.

All right.

Candidates have had plenty of opportunities to make their case this election season through various forums and debates, but there's also concerns about whether some candidates came prepared- Mm ... with more than just ideas.

One of our viewers, Dr.

Monique Faulkner, AKA Mos Flow, put it bluntly on social media.

Here's part of what she had to say.

Mos Flow?

Mos Flow.

I am so disappointed when I see these candidates and these debates just talking like, "Oh, I have this idea.

I have the..." Listen, we don't got time for ideas right now.

By now, you should have done your research, and y'all should have vetted exactly what it is y'all was going to bring to the forefront as viable solutions for the Virgin Islands economy.

Plain and simple.

But that's not what I'm hearing, and that's not what I'm seeing.

You want to talk about WAPA?

You should have been researching WAPA.

You should have been speaking with, meeting with, some key person at WAPA, asking the necessary questions, going out and doing your research, coming up with tangible proposals so that when you sit in these forums or these debates, you could spew out a plan.

Can I just say something really-- So- Please ... in watching all of this, and honestly, I feel like when it comes to the Davis-Stark-Nelson team, it's easy to go out there and say something.

I agree with her.

It's easy to complain and say this, that, and the other.

Mm-hmm.

But what I liked about the future and what I liked about Plaskett and Potter, they got out- Solutions ... into the community.

They gave out.

They gave the water, the food.

They helped the community.

Where are you helping the community?

Even if it's something as simple as a case of water or ice, like what the future, what that team did, or what Plaskett and Potter did.

It's easy to sit down while people are upset and just talk and talk.

I agree with her.

I do too.

Where are your solutions?

What is the plan?

What are we doing?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Policy-wise, were there anything that you heard on the campaign trail, Adrienne, that stood out to you the most from any of the candidates?

Plaskett and Potter having solutions for WAPA and some of our other major problems, like the hospitals and the schools.

I did not hear any other gubernatorial candidates with a plan.

It was mostly, "We don't like them.

She's awful."

Mm.

"She's a sellout."

All that kind of- Yeah ... forgive me, crap.

I don't think that they actually came together.

Among the senatorial candidates, I watched the League of Women Voters.

I was singularly unimpressed with most of the people I heard.

In fact, it was frankly the candidates in the future that were from that group that actually had thought about some positions and were articulating them well.

But the incumbents, I was disappointed.

I really was.

I like the name Mos Flow.

Mos Flow, yeah.

I- Yes.

Where did that come from?

I'm a hip-hop guy, man.

I agree.

Mos def.

Yes.

And yeah, sound nice.

However, in listening to Mos Flow, the electorate is a part of the problem.

Okay.

It seems to me they believe that the legislature and the Senate are supposed to do everything after passing legislation.

Mm-hmm.

Senators are an oversight business.

Mm-hmm.

They get blamed for a lot of executive malfeasance.

That's the truth.

And after legislature passed the laws, and you know who's fault it is?

A lot of them other senators who believe that we're supposed to appropriate money to get road paved, and then they want to go down by public works and act like as if they're the ones who are going to fix the pothole.

Everybody got a role to play.

After the legislature passes laws- Mm-hmm ... it's the executive branch's responsibility to execute the laws that are passed- That's right ... by the legislature.

They're absolutely right.

That's exactly right.

And we got voters who want to blame the legislators for everything.

And I, as a former senator, 12 years here, 10 years with U.S., the list goes on, and now we got senators, if they win tonight, they're going to be serving up to 14 years.

They sit there and take that blame because they want to be friends with the executive branch and the governor because they got family and friends who get hired by the executive branch and all that stuff.

We need some more separation.

We need true checks and balances in government, and that will allow for greater governance in the Virgin Islands.

Mm-hmm.

But Neville, look what happens to somebody who tells the truth.

They get fired.

Okay, we're not going to rehash that one again.

U.S., I know that you have not only viewed and listened to the candidates, you've also attended a few of the campaign rallies.

Who really came prepared, and what did they say that convinced you?

I'm here asking you.

Asking you to.

No, well, you asking me do I must tell you who I vote for?

Me?

I didn't ask who you vote for.

Well, scroll back down, you see the question, it said who convinced me that they would be a good senator?

And I'm not skirting issues.

I think that I want to finish up on the fact that we have, we, and we know part and parcel of it as panelists, are responsible for the miseducation- Mm-hmm ... of our voting populace.

And I heard the statement just shared by you when you spoke of what Plaskett Potter did, and then the other persons- The future ... with the future group- Mm-hmm ... handed out water.

And I'm mindful of the days that when Hurricane came, a former senator who has now passed, he was one that would go out and make sure we got- I want to pause you ... sandbags.

I have some numbers.

Oh, great.

So, I have some numbers.

That's better still.

So these are early voting summary results so far.

Oh, repeat on the screen?

Right now for the delegates to the House of Representatives, we have Janelle Saru with 8,243.

Wow.

Independent candidate Shelley Moorehead with 2,060 votes, and a total number of write-ins for 204.

In the governor and lieutenant governor race, Stacey Plaskett with 7,763.

Adelaphonsie Dennis with 1,298.

Oakland Benta, 1,195.

Warren Mosler, 721.

Gustav James, 337.

And 224 write-in totals.

For the legislature of the Virgin Islands in write-ins, Hadiah Suar with 5,985.

Angel Bolques with 3,957.

Whoa.

27 write-in totals.

Wow.

In the St.

Croix race, the front runner, Kurt Viella, with 4,124, followed by Kenneth Kenny Gittens with 2,867.

Franklin D. Johnson with 2,700.

Clifford Joseph, 2,619.

Nemi Williams Jackson, 2,386.

Lisa J. Charles, 2,364.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Seven.

That's seven.

Seven.

Jose Bese Gonzalez with 2,330.

Hubert L. Frederick, 1,957, followed by Nelly Rivera O'Reilly, 1,852.

Samuel Carione, 1,715.

Bianca Francis, 1,481.

Alvin Milligan, 1,454.

Elizabeth Hansen Watley, 1,157.

Mostasim, I'm so sorry if I am messing up your name, Mo Mustafa, 458, followed by Norman Bapo John Baptiste, 444.

Republican Raymond T. James, Esquire, 437.

Diane Prosper, 392.

Jay Watson, 384.

Troy D. Mason, 337.

Julian S. Vera, 332.

Gage Edmunds, 313.

Troy Williams Sr., 281.

Lucy Brown, 271.

Tyler Courtland Fay with 138.

68 write-in totals.

In the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, Avery Lewis with 2,851, followed by Alma Francis Halliger, 2,747.

Imani Daniel, third at 2,732.

Rudel Hodge Jr., 2,414.

Marvin Blyden, 2,393.

Senai Habtes, 2,241.

Carla Joseph, 2,127.

Duane Degraff, 2,072.

Chanel Fina Francis, 1,980.

Vernon Aruja, 1,588.

Ray Popa Fonseca, 1,539.

Joel S. Brown Connors, 1,455.

Eugene Farrell, 1,166.

Paula Duke, 876.

Dr.

Krishna Kolluru, MD, 816.

Derek Calwood, 780.

David Sierra, 379.

Gregory P. Smith, 378.

Calister Foy, 320.

Eric Tillett, 314.

135 write-in totals.

In the Board of Education race on St.

Croix, Vincent Gordon, PhD, 2,094.

Terrence T. Joseph, 1,945.

Lucy Jackson, 1,889.

Winona Hendrix, 1,708.

42 write-in totals.

Board of Education in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, Judy Gomez, 3,175.

Ara C. Lockhart, 2,554.

Bruce Lamone, 1,240.

82 write-in totals.

For the Board of Elections in the St.

Croix District, again, these are early voting numbers.

Mm-hmm.

Shamari Haynes as the front runner, 2,819.

Mary Peggy Moorhead, 1,989.

Kareem T. Francis, 1,778.

Franz Christian Jr., 1,543.

Juliet Liburd, 1,302.

For the Board of Elections in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, front runner Raven Phillips, 2,010.

Preston Evans, 1,267.

23 write-in totals.

Board of Elections, again, for the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, Barbara Peterson, 2,437.

Kevin Rodriguez, 2,286.

Harriet Mercer, 1,734, and 53 write-in totals.

So these are the early voting numbers.

Wow.

I think we definitely saw- The future.

The future.

Yeah, the future.

We saw the future, definitely, me.

Yeah.

The future is the present.

Yeah.

We saw the future.

We definitely made an impression.

And in the legislature for the senator at large race- The future ... Hadia Sewer.

Hadia Sewer- Incredible ... coming in very strong.

Wow.

5,985 votes- That is amazing ... to incumbent senator at large, Angel Bolquez- Thank you ... with 3,957.

Ooh.

So I was interrupted with your figures.

Mm-hmm.

No more, like they say.

With the numbers.

Yeah.

And it goes right back to what I was saying earlier.

Radiance.

Well, with the- In the St.

Croix District And Bolquez Well, I want to stick with the St.

Thomas, St.

John District.

What we have up on the screen right now, we have Adrian Lewis- Okay ... definitely coming in as a front runner, which is something that Adrian and Radiance hypothesized earlier.

Francis Heiliger coming in second.

Imani Daniel coming in third.

That's great.

Rudel Hodge Jr.

coming in fourth.

Marvin Blyden coming in fifth.

Senai Habtes coming in sixth, and Carla Joseph coming in seventh.

So definitely we saw an upset.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

We see incumbents being bumped out.

Yeah.

As of right now, these are the early voting numbers.

Many incumbents we've seen, DeGraff- The runs.

Well, we see- DeGraff ... Dwayne DeGraff and Fonseca- And Fonseca ... being bumped out.

Yeah, and Fonseca is not there As of now.

As of right now, yes.

Yeah.

Wow.

Fonseca not even making the top 10 as of right now with the early voting numbers.

Wow.

And the difference between seven and eight- Mm-hmm ... is only 55.

Wow.

It's only 55 votes between- So that one- So Carla Joseph and Dwayne DeGraff right now fighting it out for that seat ... correct.

And in St.

Croix, we got a big difference between seventh and eighth.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Where you got over 300 votes between Jose B. Segonzalez and Hubert Frederick.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That's 373.

And that's- That's our difference ... and that's the- That's really voting ... point that I was leaving, getting ready to, and I told Marcelina, I don't want to call out.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

But I started with the Democratic primary, and I made it clear- Mm-hmm ... that the one incumbent in trouble in the primary was the incumbent Senator Frederick.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And I know that it is definite that this one independent, who is an incumbent, Senator Franklin Johnson- Johnson ... that he would be up there.

Not only that, he has been aligned with the territorial campaign from early- Early ... publicly endorsing the Plaskett Potter team.

He will have that general support, and then the manner and the campaign that has been ran, I know it's not final, by both Nomi Williams- Mm-hmm ... and Lisa is- Five, six, and seven, right?

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Five, six, and seven.

Yeah.

The difference is 56.

Yeah.

Right?

So those three are going to be fighting for two seats.

No, for five, six, and seven.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because the difference- That's wow ... between seventh and eighth is significant, right?

Additionally, when you look at this- Wow ... seven of the seven Democratic candidates- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm ... they're in the top eight.

Yep.

Yep.

On St.

Croix, whereas in St.

Thomas- It's an upset.

Yeah.

I told you.

Yeah.

It's an upset.

You got Papa Fonseca.

Yeah.

He is, I would say- Not in the top 10 ... eight, nine, 10.

I also predicted him in that district- 11 ... to be the first incumbent to go.

11.

To go.

Yeah.

And Joel Connors as well, he's 12.

But let's face it, Lucy and I been in a lot of elections.

Mm-hmm.

You don't want to be behind.

You don't.

No.

I was a, what would you call?

Mm-hmm.

I was a Marcelina once upon a time.

Right?

I would like you to elaborate on that a little bit more.

I was a media person- Okay ... right, before I became a politician, and now I'm back on the media side.

Right?

And so I was covering Lucy Richards in a- Mm-hmm ... runoff Because he had tied for seventh.

Mm-hmm.

And then later on, we were looking at another race some years later, and he brought up a good point about being behind going into the absentee count.

He said, "For every one you get, the person who behind you need two to gain one on you."

Yeah.

Well, I want to- And this differential here in- In the senate race ... seven or eight Saint Croix, yeah.

In the senator at large race, there is a big difference right now of 2,000.

I can't see that being overcome.

Yeah.

No.

I was going to ask how many would he need?

I could go out on a limb right now.

How many what?

He said for every one you need, you need four.

No.

I want to know how much- How many votes?

He- He was talking about a tight position race- Yes, sir ... between- Yeah ... seven or eight.

It ain't going to tight yet.

I'm sorry about this.

Yeah.

And there's not that many absentee ballots that's available to be counted.

Oh, no.

If he get all of them- Now don't forget they got today's count as well.

Yeah.

I'm just saying, if you get all of them, so what we're looking at is early voting- Mm-hmm ... summary results.

Mm-hmm.

This is what happened before today's election.

Correct.

Right.

Right.

And I think we should make that clear- Yes ... with the listening audience.

And I think it's safe to say, it only got worse between when early voting done and today.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

For incumbents, based on all the things that we're hearing.

Yeah.

And it ain't limited to WAPA.

I'm amazed.

We got crime issues.

I'm not really amazed, though.

I'm really not- This is crazy ... because I'm telling you, people in St.

Thomas are upset.

Yes, they are mad.

They are angry.

They are upset.

Angry for sure.

That this power thing- I wanted to speak on that power thing, but I'll wait until sometime down the road.

Here's something I enjoy doing when we watching all them big shot.

Okay.

We could call races right now.

The delegate race is over.

That's over.

Yes.

The gubernatorial race is over.

That's over.

Mm-hmm.

And the at large race is close to over.

Close to over.

Which at large race?

The senator.

Senator at large race.

The senator.

Well, you said close.

I just want to be on the safe side.

He's trying to be on the safe side.

Well, let's coin it this way, for lack of a better term.

I with you.

If the trend continues, like the early voting and today's chosen voting- Then it's over ... it's over.

Over.

Mm-hmm.

And then I'm going to make a prediction that I shared in September.

August.

No.

We were there on the floor with the primary night, but you call this one primary night.

It's August.

August 1.

Mm-hmm.

August was the primary.

August was the primary.

Yeah.

August, whatever the primary day was.

Yeah.

And then I shared with both Neville and Marcelina.

Yes.

Well, everybody that saying, "Miss Honey going to get gubernatorial runoff, and our government so broke we cannot afford a runoff."

I mean, it's not funny.

That's the truth.

It's not funny, you're right.

You have to laugh to keep from crying.

That's right.

I told Marcelina and Neville, I'm a basketball person, and in basketball they say you don't get run off the court.

Mm-hmm.

Well, Plastic Patel is going to run the other players off the court.

Off the court.

I don't expect to have a gubernatorial runoff two weeks after today, November 12th.

No, it'll be all over.

Let me look at the monitor.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's 6,400 and- My God.

And let you do crunch your numbers.

That's amazing.

A 6,465 difference between first and second.

That race is over.

That race is done.

Congratulations are in order- They're done ... for the new- Yeah ... governor, lieutenant governor, and history has been made.

History.

Yes.

According to the early voting.

According to early voting.

According to early voting.

And the reason why we could say that is because we have the numbers with respect to the amount of people who voted today, and we had 5,000 less election day voters than we had early voting, so- Mm-hmm ... we ain't even got the same number of early votes to apply, so even if you had a flip- Mm ... to make it equal, percentages don't work that way.

Yeah.

That race is over.

Delegate race is over.

At large race, over.

Wow.

That's amazing.

But you know, I was wondering if this was going to be a nail-biting election.

I remember when it was Governor Brad- Yeah ... and that was a nail-biting election.

Biter.

Yes.

And just to get to 50% plus one.

Yeah.

Yes.

Ain't got no 50% plus one question.

Yeah.

Well- Don't bite your nails, you're going to have a other bite to do there.

It's a little bit more than that.

Don't worry about that one.

Nuts.

All right.

Now, earlier, I know we are going over the numbers, but I do want to go back to our viewers.

Earlier, we asked you questions about the senator at large race, and whether Senator Bullock's ethics issue influenced your vote, and whether Dr.

Seward's position against reopening the St.

Croix refinery affected how you voted.

Let's see how you responded.

For Dr.

Seward's position against reopening the refinery, 31% of you said yes, it influenced you to vote for her, and 21% of you said it influenced you not to vote for her.

47% of you said it had no effect or influence on your vote at all.

In Senator Bullock's ethics issues influence, 14 of you said yes, it influenced me.

14%.

14%.

Sorry.

My apologies.

14% said yes, it influenced me to vote for him, 53% of you says yes- Wow.

Yeah ... it influenced me not to vote for him.

Wow.

Yeah.

And 31% of you said it had no influence on your vote whatsoever.

1%- Didn't vote ... I didn't vote.

You didn't vote in the race.

You're not supposed to answer.

But you saw the numbers.

Yes.

We see it.

We saw the numbers.

We saw it right here in the numbers.

I am interested to see the breakdown usually between the districts in St.

Croix versus the St.

Thomas, St.

John, on how based off of Just the districts and how it translated for voters on both sides.

I got a number for you.

Okay.

Give me the numbers.

Man is here with his calculator.

Stacy Plaskett, 67.2% of the vote.

Okay.

Wow.

Wow.

Okay.

Can you recall a time when a gubernatorial candidate walked away with that high of a percentage with the votes?

Never.

Not to my knowledge- No ... in the 56 years.

This is the 15th gubernatorial election we're having, to include the first one in 1970.

Nobody has ever received 67% of the vote.

I think one of the things, if I may- Oh, she didn't have a lot of competition ... she had no competition.

Yeah.

Sorry, Ucie.

No, that's fine.

Yeah.

Just make sure that at my age, I gather my thoughts so I could share them properly.

Stop.

But I was fortunate and Neville did join us back on the Democratic- Primary night, yes ... primary night.

Mm-hmm.

And I made the public comment not to be insultive or to dismiss- Or disrespectful.

Yeah ... or disrespectful to the other candidates that were in the gubernatorial race, but there's no way, and I going to use an analogy that hits home for Neville.

It's like a horse race.

Mm-hmm.

And the race is a mile and a half.

You cannot let the Plaskett-Potter horse- Get out ... run out of the gate, and you wait until Plaskett-Potter don't cover six-four lungs, and now you're going bust out the gate, and so the challengers- Mm-hmm ... created no challenge.

That's right.

No plan.

The old adage that say, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Mm-hmm.

And they had no organized structured campaign.

Nothing.

And the one thing that they hide under, and they complain about, "Oh, we didn't have the kind of financial support."

Oh, please.

But if I may say this, and I said that- Mm ... primary night, if you don't organize, how can I and Adrian decide that we're going to contribute to something- Yeah ... that appears- Yeah ... to be disorganized.

Right.

Mm.

So I said it was over in August and now- And you've- ... I had to wait till November 3rd to confirm that- Radiance ... it's over.

Yeah.

But you know- Yeah ... you spoke a little bit about technology earlier.

I think in this day and age where technology is right at your fingertips, it is inexpensive- Mm-hmm ... quite frankly, to run Facebook ads, to run Google ads.

And disagreeing.

It costs about $10, Ucie.

It cost about $10 to run an ad for a week time.

It's that cheap?

Somebody- Yeah.

It's not expensive.

It's not expensive.

It can cost about $10- Yeah ... to run.

Okay.

I hear you.

So you mean to tell me somebody didn't have $100?

No, what I am disagreeing about is that you're speaking about social media and technology campaigns.

Oh, yeah, these weren't social media campaigns.

And I know that you have received- But that's just one aspect.

No.

The point that I'm sharing, I know you have received the breakdown from early voting by age groups.

I don't know if you had a chance to look at that.

Yes.

And if you look at the age group breakdown- Mm-hmm ... the majority of the voters are over and beyond the age of 45.

Yes.

The largest group was- The largest group- ... between 45 and 65 My kind of group.

Ucie.

But the point I'm making is that- I'm your mother.

... the Plaskett-Potter campaign is not being successful because of technology and social media campaign- No ... solely.

No.

It is the opportunity to have the touch- To plan and organize ... and to touch- And interact ... and to interact from a door-to-door.

But people got away from doing door-to-door.

They now figure that they could like- They did door-to-door ... they're free to go to people door- They really did ... or they're free to attend physical events.

We're walking now.

I walk out your game with people door, Ucie.

Honest to God.

I would, and there are people that I think Thomas that are out there- They were not campaigning ... going door to door.

They were going door to door every single day.

You know you going catch them home because they light they off.

Yeah.

Yes.

So you might as well go.

Well put.

But I want to give Radiance an opportunity- Yes, sorry ... we're all getting excited right here on the table.

Radiance.

So I feel like the lack of funding is a poor excuse.

Yes.

I totally agree with the fact that, yes, you can run a Facebook ad, you can utilize social media- Mm-hmm ... to the max.

However, that plan and organizational aspect leads me to think if you couldn't plan and organize your campaign with the lack of funding- Mm-hmm ... how are you going to do that with our government?

Exactly.

We have a- Exactly ... funding issue everywhere.

Each agency, you're pulling money from one agency to another, to another, juggling.

Dance shuffle.

As they say, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Yes.

So if you couldn't do that effectively with your campaign, how are you going to do that with our government?

How are you going to lead us?

Yes.

Neville.

Just some more percentages.

The percentage man that I am.

Hades were at 60%.

Nice.

And Janelle Sarro at 78.4%.

Are those races that are over?

Those are percentages for early voting that included the write-ins.

And it's interesting that we had 11,538 votes in the gubernatorial race, 1,000 less votes in the delegate race at 10,507, and another 600 or 500 plus votes less in the at-large race at 9,969, including the write-ins.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

We had, and just to remind voters, a total of 12,242 ballots were cast during early voting, so a voter turnout rate of 19.15%.

For the numbers man and the percentage man Um.

I had thought it was more than that.

I think it is a little bit more than that.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah.

Because they told us we got 31,000 registered voters in the territory.

Right.

So if we get 12,000, a third of that is 10,000 plus.

So I think it's a little bit more than that.

Yeah.

I agree.

Of course, I wouldn't challenge- But I'm not a numbers person ... my math against anybody.

You know what I'm saying?

But I think they need to refigure that.

However, what we need to look at though, with the St.

Thomas race, and this is why I encourage the audience, the focus now is seven or eight in St.

Thomas.

Right.

Because that Joseph and DeGraff- Two ... race with that 55 vote difference- Two non-majority members ... going into that.

Right.

That would organize as a minority.

Correct.

One majority, one minority.

Right?

Mm-hmm.

And then, the fall after, eight is about 198 votes to Chanelle Fina Francis.

That going to be hard to overcome.

But it's interesting though, because I believe Karla Joseph had finished second in the primary.

Yes.

That's what I was going to say.

Yeah.

She finished second.

Behind Avery Lewis.

Yeah.

Avery Lewis maintained his position, and she has fallen off.

Rudel Hodge finished behind her in the primary.

He is now 300 votes ahead of her, thereabouts.

Marvin Bladen finished behind her.

He is 266 votes ahead of her.

So something happened between August and one where Ms.

Joseph is concerned, but she's still fighting.

She's seventh, and seventh just as good as first.

All right.

When you're winning.

I want to take a moment.

We do have Supervisor Fox on the line.

Oh, great.

Good evening, Supervisor Fox.

Good evening.

I can hear you.

Can you hear me?

Oh, I can hear you now.

Okay, good.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening, Supervisor Fox.

I want to get your take on, from the election system side, on how the day went.

So how the day went.

Oh, I believe you're breaking up, Supervisor Fox.

Yeah, I said the morning started out slow, but overall the afternoon saw a greater turnout.

So for us, it went very well.

All right.

Neville, I believe, do you- No, good evening, Ms.

Fox.

And you and I had spoken a couple of weeks ago, and both of us agreed that early voting would be somewhere between 12,000 and 13,000.

Correct.

And it ended up at 12,000, and then we got another 7,000 tonight, which got us to 20,000.

We're still seeing a trickle down in participation.

Oh, no.

That's a population thing, isn't it?

Because it was 22,000 that voted in the 2022 gubernatorial election cycle, and now this year is at 20,000, when you add early voting and Election Day numbers.

Correct.

What are you looking at?

Because that's a big fallout from way back in the day when we were up in the mid 30,000s.

Mm-hmm.

We can't ignore the obvious when it comes to population, Madam Supervisor.

Well, we are currently going out, the transition on and out, and then a lot of the population here do not vote here.

So you have a population that, they live here, work here, but they vote in the States so they aren't here.

Oh, okay.

So the apartment states.

Mm-hmm.

Out of the 22,000 though, like you said, it was 20,000, we'll see where the drop-off is, whether it's age group or population, but we still have maybe close to 700 to 800 absentee ballots that out.

Mm-hmm.

We had a few provisional, not that much.

So we'll see if it makes up that difference.

Now we have to accept the regional results.

My goal was at 60%.

Usually, last election was 63, but that was not a gubernatorial.

So if you're looking at 60%, I was hoping today that we would get at least over 7,000, right?

700 plus to make it 19,000 and change, 20,000 you think.

Mm-hmm.

So again, for us, that's not the best, but it's good.

Okay.

Supervisor Fox, I want to ask you about how many voting centers have come in so far.

Around what time do you anticipate getting all the votes?

We are done.

We are done at both sites, 8:30.

No.

So right now, they're uploading the site information on the website.

Everything is finished.

All right.

Both sites.

Done.

Everybody's in.

My goal was 9:00, but it made 8:30.

Wow.

Excellent.

I'm sorry about today because the deputy supervisor fell ill, so she had to go to the hospital, so that's why I'm filling in her role.

So I wasn't available earlier to do the interview, because now I have to be in a conference room dealing with the drum trace.

So I haven't even seen the final results, but they're working on that right now for unofficial results as of tonight.

But all the voting centers are in St.

John, St.

Croix.

St.

Croix finished first, and then St.

Thomas finished just right after.

So at 8:30, we are finished.

This is incredible.

Excellent.

Very excellent.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Nice.

Well done.

We had good participation.

But like I said, we push early voting.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's our thing.

We love early voting.

That's what they say.

And so we tried to get as much as possible out on early voting day.

That's right.

And like I said, tonight we are completed for now, unofficial.

Tomorrow at 1:00 we start the absentee- Yeah, that's a question ... counting, and then we had a few provisionals at St.

Thomas, but not a lot, I think less than 10.

Mm-hmm.

And so we'll deal with that tomorrow also.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

I want to give the panel an opportunity to ask you a question, Supervisor Fox.

Usi, you had a question for the supervisor?

Yeah, thanks.

I'll be quick.

I just have some general information.

You have a timeframe on when you would have a final statistical breakdown as far as by district and precincts?

Well, that's coming out tonight.

Okay.

I'll do that.

That's the third report that we're going to put out tonight by precinct, so they could see what they got in all the precincts.

So I would say within the hour.

Okay.

One of the last reports that we do.

Right now we're going through this step We do the early voting, again, based on what we put out here.

Mm-hmm.

So we do early voting, then we do our early voting district, we do our election date district report.

So that's being finalized now.

Mm-hmm.

And the last one we're going to do tonight is precinct reports by island.

So you're going to get each precinct, how the vote went for island.

Mm-hmm.

And how about- An hour ... by age categories?

That's- That will be known after- That won't be today ... we do that.

That will be tomorrow.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

We're trying to get these out tonight, but we should have that by tomorrow.

Okay.

Do you want to see your- Obviously some young people voted.

No?

And that is what I wanted.

I- I want to know We have the super- Sorry, Nino ... before we continue our conversation, before we continue the conversation, did anybody else on the panel have a question for the supervisor?

No, I'm good.

All right.

Supervisor Fox, I want to thank you so much for calling in.

Is there anything that we may not have asked you that you want to say to Virgin Islands voters this evening?

Well, again, like I said, we thank the voters that came out and participate, and again, it's engagement from the candidates.

You have vibrant candidates running with platforms that they subscribe to.

They will come out and vote.

So we encourage others.

We had persons showing up today, coming to the office who think they still could come here for early voting, and we had to send them to the voting centers.

So Charlotte Amalie had a line, they couldn't close at 7:00 exactly because they had a line, and so they continued until all those person were served.

Mm-hmm.

So we thank the voters for coming out, and all the agencies that participate, and the media for the coverage.

Thank you.

All righty.

Thank you, supervisor.

Have a good evening.

You too.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Nice work.

Man.

He wants to revel in his age category.

Sure.

No.

Revel in it.

Yes.

Revel.

No, I'm not reveling in the age category.

Okay.

But what I find fascinating- Mm-hmm ... because Adrian spoke of that earlier when she continued to revel the future candidates- Mm-hmm ... about whether or not they are getting the young people to come out to vote, right?

Mm-hmm.

And you have Neville next to you, so when I drop the numbers, he's going to be able to balance it off in your mind.

Now- The two of you ... just on the island of Saint Thomas.

Okay.

For the age group of 55 plus to 75 plus, right?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

We had 3,810 persons voted, right?

Out of a total of 5,624.

Well.

And so that says- Power vote ... that a lot of young people didn't come out and vote in the Saint Thomas, Saint John district.

Well, 2,000 of them did.

No, that's not 2,000 in the category you're talking about.

The majority- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm Oh, the majority were older, for sure ... that they vote for change.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And then even in Saint Croix- That's amazing ... where we had 6,217 early voters- Mm-hmm ... 55 and over was 4,228- Wow ... of them were the voters.

And so that- And still wanted change.

And that says a lot.

So in Saint Croix- It does ... we don't have that large change for younger candidates, but we have a large vote for change from incumbencies.

Well, doesn't Saint Croix, though, usually throw out at least a couple?

Yes.

I believe this election, Saint Thomas has taken it- Yes, it is ... head on.

Yeah.

It's taken the thunder, for sure.

Saint Thomas is showing out.

Yeah.

What's also interesting is that historically, when Usie and I were running way back in the day, because you know we're washed up and has beens, right?

Oh, stop it.

The leading vote getter in Saint Thomas always used to get maybe 1,000 or 1,500 more votes than the leading vote- Voter ... getter in Saint Croix.

Right.

That is no longer the case.

No, sir.

Mm.

Senator Vielle had 4,124, and Avery Lewis ain't even crack 3,000.

Yeah.

He got 2,851.

Mm-hmm.

So that speaks to how dominant Senator Vielle is- Yeah ... in this plurality race- Mm-hmm ... that is a senate race.

These ain't like the other races or binary where you pick one and the other one, you can't vote for the other one.

You could vote for up to seven.

Mm-hmm.

And here he is getting 4,124 votes in a race with all these candidates.

He got 1,300 and 57 more votes than the second place vote getter.

Mm-hmm.

That's like when Chuckie used to dominate the race- Yeah ... when Sean Michael Malone, Fancy Donna Storr, Positive Nelson, when they were leading vote getters.

He's in that rarefied air of getting votes, running for district seats, and it's interesting.

Also, I was looking at the numbers.

If it stays right now, you got 10 Democrats, six from- Yeah ... Saint Croix- Mm-hmm ... and four from- Saint Thomas ... Saint Thomas and Saint John, but don't count out DeGraff.

He there right there still.

No, he's right there.

Yeah.

They right there.

They only 55 votes out.

You never know what's happening, but- Right ... I would rather be Joseph than DeGraff.

I would rather be a front coming to the wire- ... not having to pick up any gold.

I know we're talking a lot about the senatorial races right now, but I want to look at the Board of Elections race as well too.

Of course.

Please.

Of course.

You know- Yeah, there was a rave coming there too ... Raven Phillips.

Raven.

Yeah.

Another future ... another part of the future.

That's right.

Mm-hmm.

A 743 vote difference between Preston Evans- A Democrat ... a Democrat as well, too.

Raven, an independent.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

There's a distinction there we heard of, we going to put that on the record- Okay ... where she has to, she representing Saint John- Yes ... in the Board of Elections- Mm-hmm ... out of the Saint Thomas, Saint John District.

Out of the... Yeah.

So that's it, and I'm interviewing her.

I don't like to go down a limb, but I going to say it now.

Mm-hmm.

Senai Haptis.

Mm-hmm.

Who's the next one?

Imani Daniel.

Rudel Hodge, Imani Daniel.

Daniel.

All of them speak at Ivy League level, right?

Raven Phillips, she done it top of all of them.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

She was impressive, just talking to her.

Mm-hmm.

And you ask them a question, they're like a logistics machine.

They're just ready to respond.

Right away.

They were prepared.

Mm-hmm.

And Attorney Dudley, sorry, first name basis, Adrian- Candidate quality is so important, and we need to be focusing on that as voters in the Virgin Islands.

Yes, there's a popularity dynamic, but you're going to listen to these senatorial and Board of Election and Board of Education candidates, because in particular with the Senate, I want them to be standing up on the floor and speaking from a position of intellect, institutional knowledge, and most importantly, conviction with respect to legislation in front of them.

And I could see the future in the future.

Not only that, analysis.

Oh, gosh, yes.

"Analyze This", that's- Yeah ... the name of the show.

Well, we do actually have a video right now that was taken a little while ago- Uh-huh ... from the headquarters of the future, as we got those numbers coming in.

Wow.

So we're going to on St.

Thomas.

Oh.

So we're going to go to that video now of the headquarters over on the future on St.

Thomas.

1,167, 23 write-in totals.

Board of Elections again for the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, Barbara Pearson, 2,437.

Kevin Rodriguez, 2,286.

Harriet Mercer, 1,734, and 53 write-in totals.

So these are the early voting numbers in the contestant .

The future.

The future.

Very excited.

I do want us to finish that video out.

Yes.

I do want us to finish that video out, but we do have some general election date numbers that have come in.

Ooh.

Mm.

For the total number of ballots cast, 7,805.

The delegates for the House of Representatives, Janelle Sarro with 4,786.

Shelley Moorhead, 1,526.

117 write-in totals.

For the governor and lieutenant governor, Stacey Plaskett, 4,102.

Adelice Donastorg, 1,209.

Oakland Benta, 1,078.

Warren Mosler, 300-- 572, my apologies.

Gustav James, 300 votes.

For the legislature of the Virgin Islands in the at-large seat, leading the front once again, Hadiya Sewell with 3,824.

Angel Bolques Jr.

with 2,247.

Amazing.

For the legislature, top vote getter, Kurt Viere, 2,370.

Kenneth "Kenny" Gittens, 1,541.

Cliff Franklin D. Johnson, 1,466.

Clifford Joseph, 1,407.

Jose "Beisi" Gonzalez, 1,363.

Lisa J. Charles, 1,350.

Nemi Williams Jackson, 1,320.

Bianca Francis, 1,156.

Nelly Rivera O'Reilly, 1,148.

Samuel Carione, 1,123.

Hubert Frederick, 1,033.

Elizabeth Hansen Watley, 791.

Alvin Milligan, 755.

Mustafa, 456.

Julian S. Vera, 360.

Norman "Bapo" John Baptiste, 357.

New book.

Raymond T. James, 346.

Jay Watson, 315.

Diane Prosper, 302.

Troy D. Mason, 274.

Gage Edmonds, 251.

Troy C. Williams Sr., 247.

Luce Lucy Brown, 197.

And Tyler Kirtland Faye with 122.

In the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, leading the pack, Imani Daniel, 1,784.

Wow.

Alma Francis Halliger, 1,713.

Avery Lewis, 1,554.

Marvin Blyden, 1,487.

Rudel Hodge Jr., 1,380.

Senai Habtes, 1,357.

Carla Joseph, 1,304.

Chanel Fina Francis, 1,265.

Duane DeGraff, 1,068.

Not going to make it.

No.

Vernon Araujo, 987.

Ray "Popa" Fonseca, 980.

Joelle S. Brown-Connors, 821.

Eugene Farrell, 793.

Derek Calwood, 682.

Paula Dukes, 626.

Dr.

Krishna Kolaru, MD, 607.

Gregory P. Smith, 353.

Paula Stafoy, 335.

David Sierra, 321.

And Eric Tillett, 272.

For the Board of Education in the St.

Croix district, leading the pack is Lucy Jackson, PhD, 1,196.

Vincent Gordon, 1,175.

Terrence T. Joseph, 1,066, and Winona Hendrix, 866.

For the Board of Education in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, Judy Gomez, 1,800.

Iris C. Lockhart, 1,355, and Bruce Flemon, 915.

Mm.

Staying in the lead, Shamari Haynes for the Board of Elections in the St.

Croix district with 1,513.

Mary Peggy Moorhead staying behind with 1,281, followed by Kareem Francis, 982.

Franz Christian Jr.

with 893, and Juliet Liburd, 878.

For the Board of Elections in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, representing that St.

John seat, staying in the lead, Raven Phillips with 1,498.

Preston Evans, 790.

Board of Elections in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, Barbara Peterson with 1,350.

Kevin Rodriguez, 1,308.

Harriet Mercer, 1,147.

So those are the numbers.

Okay.

Election day numbers.

Yeah, a quick question.

Go ahead.

So at least I can keep up with you.

The numbers that you're sharing are for today's election- Today's election, yes ... votes cast- Yes ... territory-wide in all of the offices.

Mm-hmm.

And this represents all numbers, and we have no more numbers to look forward to coming in regards to voters that voted today.

That's correct?

Unofficial results.

Good.

As of right now, yes.

And could you- Not combined- No ... with early voting.

It hasn't been combined with early voting yet.

It has not been combined.

And then could you help your viewers and listeners out, and I don't want to ask you to read them over.

Mm-hmm.

But in the cases with the Board of Education- Mm-hmm ... and the Board of Election, you give the number of votes, who were number one or two or three or whatever.

Yes.

But you should let the public know the number of offices that are available.

Yes.

Okay.

Like in some instances- So- ... there's only two- Yes ... positions, so we go the top two are or- Mm-hmm ... and then there's only three position, I believe, in board elections.

So just so people could follow up with you.

Yes.

Going back over it, for the Board of Education, you could only vote for two, so two candidates.

Lucy Jackson with 1,196, and Vincent Gordon Jr.

with 1,175 for the Board of Education in the St.

Croix District.

Board of Education in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, also two.

Judy Gomez, 1,800.

Ira C. Lockhart, 1,355.

For the Board of Elections in the St.

Croix district, three candidates.

Mm-hmm.

Shomari Haynes, 1,513.

Mary Peggy Moorhead, 1,281.

And Kareem T. Francis, 982.

Got you.

For the Board of Elections, that one St.

John seat- Mm-hmm ... Raven Phillips with 1,448.

For the Board of Election St.

Thomas, St.

John district seats, Barbara Peterson with one thousand... Two seats available.

Barbara Peterson, 1,350 votes, and Kevin Rodriguez, 1,308.

What was the number for Shelly Moorhead?

And it would- For Shelly Moorhead today, 1,526.

Thank you.

You really looking at an assignment, my partner, man.

Never leave that alone, man.

You want to know what percentage going down the road?

No, just adding the total number of vote.

The total.

And with the race, we don't call that race, do we?

All good.

We have not.

And we could officially call the at large race.

Yet officially.

Oh, yeah.

And then- Yeah ... Marcelina, what was interesting, and you've covered a good couple of elections since you've been here at WTJX, is the Board of Education race in St.

Croix.

Mm-hmm.

Where board members Winona Hendrix and board member Terrence T. Joseph, I think they've probably been on the board before me and never was elected.

You understand?

And I think the people are now asking for some new faces.

New blood.

New representation.

Yeah.

I think based on the numbers though, right?

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Gordon is a winner, right?

Mm-hmm.

And Lucy Jackson fighting with Terrence T., right?

No, I think Jackson was in front.

No, she was in third with the early voting.

Lucy Jackson?

She was in third with early voting.

Early voting.

Yes.

She was in third with early voting.

She got more votes.

But in today, she was leading.

She was leading today.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And she was only behind Terrence Joseph by 45 and 11, 56 votes coming into today.

Mm-hmm.

So what was the number for today?

1,196.

And what was Terrence Joseph number?

Terrence Joseph, 1,066.

She passed him.

Yeah.

She passed him.

So we got two new- Two new ones ... board of education.

Correct.

Yes.

Correct.

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Now- Oh, one quick note I want to make.

The Jose B. Segonzalies.

He bumped.

It is clear- He did, yeah ... that he made strides in between the primary and the general election.

Mm-hmm.

He actually finished in fifth place- Yeah ... in voting for today.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

He was in seventh place in the primary, and he was in seventh place, I believe, with early voting, right?

Yes, you're correct.

Yeah.

I'm watching it right now because- Yeah ... he's actually switched places with- Hubert Fredericks ... no, with Nemi.

Early voting.

Yes.

Nemi was fifth with early voting and today's voting.

Right.

Bessie has moved up to fifth, and she has gone down to seventh.

Correct.

Mm-hmm.

There's one thing I want to say, though, right?

You're going to be interested.

One day Usi was on the floor, I don't know if you remember him making this statement, but I'm sure he has a big brain, he does.

He said, "If there's one thing people of the Caribbean like," and he then limited it to the Virgin Islands, right?

He say, "In America, they will talk about baseball, hot dog, and apple pie."

Apple pie.

But in the Caribbean, it's politics.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

That's true.

And I could just feel it among the five of us.

That's true.

When we get the numbers, it was a different conversation.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We all got excited.

Yeah.

And I believe that's the case with the viewers as well, so.

Yeah.

Now, viewers, we do want to hear from you again, what should be the next governor's top priority?

Well, Governor M. Plaskett's top priority.

Governor elect.

Governor elect Plaskett.

Yeah.

So go ahead and scan the QR code on your screen or visit votes.wtjx.org.

Review the choices and make your selection.

We'll share the results a little bit later.

And Senator Bladen, who actually finished second in the primary, not Carla Joseph.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So, he's still ahead of her.

Still ahead.

But the most important thing coming out of that St.

Thomas, St.

John race, the future, man.

Yes.

Yeah.

The fact that Arude El-Ad has moved up a little bit.

Mm-hmm.

The fact that Imani Daniel- That's hot.

Top vote getter ... top vote getter- Top vote getter ... on election day.

Mm-hmm.

Which means that, in my opinion, her appearance on "Analyse This" boosted her.

And her appearance in the forum.

I love how he's taking credit.

Taking credit.

You're taking credit for her boost.

No, I'm giving WTJX credit- Okay.

Yeah ... for putting the platform in place and- On "Analyse This" ... here she comes on, sounding as brilliant as she did.

She was the leading vote getter- Yes ... for early voting, which is vote and done.

She happened to come on after early voting had started.

That's the reason why I'm saying that.

No- And she did very well in the candidates forum.

Forum.

Candidate forums.

Yes.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

But I'm not going to back down from what I said, Usi.

"Analyse This" ain't no joke.

Oh, no.

"Analyse This" is what going on, and it's bigger in St.

Thomas- You go with ring, you go with ring ... and St.

John, and on St.

Croix, and that's where you should be.

You should address it to Marcelina.

I was responding to Marcelina's thing, like, "He taking credit."

I was like, "Yep."

There's a reason that they put me between the two of them.

Yes, I see that.

It wasn't me.

I agree with Howard.

I came out of retirement, out of TV retirement, to do the gig tonight.

And I have no regrets.

I'm loving every minute of it.

I get to meet Radiance.

Mm-hmm.

I'm bosom buddies here with Adrian Dudley.

We actually sharing national numbers, because- Yeah ... some crazy things are going on.

Some crazy things are happening nationally- St.

John awesome ... as the jolly has just taken the lead- St.

John awesome ... in the governor's race in Florida.

The jolly has just taken the lead in the governor's race in Florida.

The Democratic candidate?

The Democratic candidate.

Oh, in Florida.

And the socialist candidate was just leaving, but she get passed by about 30,000.

Wow.

So that's a good race.

That's a nail biter in Florida.

So politics is sweet.

This is good.

Yeah, man.

Well, I'm hoping to hear from the winners.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We are definitely hoping to hear from the winners.

Radiance, just kind of talking about these upsets- Yes.

... you said you were excited that this happened.

I felt it in my spirit, because I just was like, I feel like with all that has been going on in St.

Thomas, St.

Cushions will cry, but honestly, the real chokehold, I feel, is in St.

Thomas.

The food is expensive.

You don't have any power.

Don't start that.

You just- Listen, I sat down at work, and my coworker said- I'm only laughing because I'm here ... she said, "I am moving to St.

Croix because their power is always on."

And so I said, "Well..." I can remember the days.

So, at one point, the comment was made that maybe if we hold a St.

Thomas hostage- ... if I turn the power on and off, we will get something.

I don't know what the outcome was or what the goal was as to what they were trying to get out of us, but it felt like you were being held hostage, and I really felt, in my spirit, this upset.

That's- Yeah ... that sentiment you're talking about there, right?

I was just going to ask Neville to share what you shared with me and Marcelina.

Said, "No, it's on the table."

Introduced by Radiance, not by you.

I want to bring up something I experienced.

Usi, you know Lansford Williams.

That's my family.

Lived in St.

Thomas for donkey years.

A lawyer, civil rights- Nemi Williams ... lawyer in Alamanc, right?

He texted me, it was Thursday, October 22nd, when St.

Thomas was dealing with this devastation, and he texted me, and he said, "But how come our power ain't off on St.

Croix?"

And I said, "Well, we don't have Wartsilas.

We have a lease with Aggreko."

And his next question is, "So why can't we have Aggreko on St.

Thomas?"

And it's a legitimate question, because I would want, if Alawees doing well- Energy ... let Alaweed do it together.

Let's do it.

And if we suffering, you know what I'm saying?

Yep.

We do it the way market forces them.

And that's what going on.

So that's what we dealing with.

But the WAPA deal, there's no doubt in my mind, the WAPA deal- Oof ... impacted incumbents in the St.

John district.

Oh, yes.

All right.

Well, I do have some combined numbers here.

There we go.

Okay.

All right.

For those who don't know.

So in the delegates for the House of Representatives, Janelle Sorro with 13,029 votes- Wow ... to independent candidate Shelley Moorhead with 3,586.

For governor and lieutenant governor, Stacey Plaskett and Milton Potter, 11,865.

Adelafonsi Denis Stark, 2,507.

Oakland Benta, 2,273.

Warren Mosler, 1,293, and Gustav James, 637.

For the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, the senator at-large race, Hadiya Sewer with 9,809- Wow ... to incumbent Senator Angel Bolkies Jr.

at 6,204.

For the Legislature of the Virgin Islands in the St.

Croix district, those top seven, Kurt Vialy, 6,494.

Kenneth Kenny Gittens, 4,408.

Franklin D. Johnson, 4,166.

Clifford Joseph, 4,026.

Lisa J. Charles, 3,714.

Nemi Williams Jackson, 3,706.

I'm at number seven, 3,693, Jose Bese Gonzalez.

Amazing And again Yeah But he's still in the race.

Still in the race.

Yep.

Behind of him is Nelly Rivera O'Reilly with 3,000 votes.

Wow.

Hubert Fredericks, 2,990 votes.

Samuel Carreon- Carreon ... 2,838.

Bianca Bianca Francis, 2,637.

Mm.

Alvin Milligan, 2,209.

Elizabeth Hansen Watley, 1,945.

Mustafam Musta'Sim Mustafa, 914.

Norman Bapo John Baptiste- Bapo ... 801.

James Raymond James, 783.

Prosper Jay Watson She passed Prosper.

Yes, she did.

699.

Diane Prosper- ... 694.

Julian Vera, 692.

Troy Mason, 611.

Gage Edmunds, 564.

I did good.

Troy Williams Senior, 528.

Lucy Browns, 468, and Tyler Courtland Fay, 260.

That is in the combined numbers in the St.

Croix District.

Now, in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, leading the pack, independent candidate Imani Daniel with 4,516 as the top vote getter right now in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District.

Coming in second, Amma Francis Holliger with 4,460.

Third, Avery Lewis, 4,405.

Fourth, Marvin Blyden, 3,880.

Fifth, Rudel Hodge Jr., 3,794.

3,794?

3,794.

Yes.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Sixth, Senai Haptis, 3,598, and seventh, Carla Joseph, 3,431.

Eighth, Chanelle Feena-Francis with 3,245, followed by Duane DeGraff, 3,140.

Vernon Arujo, 2,575.

Ray Popa Fonseca, 2,519.

This is greater than known.

Joelle Brown Connors, 2,276.

Eugene Farrell, 1,959.

Paula Duke, 1,502.

Derek Calwood, 1,462.

Dr.

Krishna Kolluru MD, 1,423.

Gregory P. Smith, 731.

David Sierra, 700.

College Defoy, 655, and Eric Tillett, 586.

For the Board of Education, those two seats will go to Vincent Gordon with 3,269 and Lucy Jackson PhD, 3,085.

Oh, dear.

Okay.

Terrence T. Joseph garnered 3,011 votes and Winona Hendrix, 2,574.

The Board of Education in the St.

Thomas, St.

John, those two seats, Judy Gomez, 4,975 and Ara C. Lockhart, 3,909.

Bruce Lemon garnered 2,155.

Oh, we have some more.

Mm-hmm.

You guys are wonderful.

Thank you.

And for the Board of Elections in the St.

Croix District, the top vote getter was Democratic candidate Shamari Haynes with 4,332, followed by Mary Peggy Morehead with 3,270, and the third to round that out would be Kareem T. Francis with 2,760.

France Christian got a total of 2,436 and Juliet Labor, 2,180.

Board of Elections, that one St.

John's representative seat went to independent candidate Raven Phillips with 3,458, with Preston Evans coming in at 2,057 votes.

For the Board of Elections in the St.

Thomas, St.

John District, Barbara Peterson with 3,787.

The next seat will go to Kevin Rodriguez with 3,594.

Harriet Mercer with 2,881.

Again, that was only two seats available for the Board of Elections, that St.

Thomas, St.

John District seats.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Congratulations.

Congratulations to all of the winners.

The feeling is of elation, ecstatic feeling.

Yeah.

Hey, you don't know until Allah how it work, and in reality, it's in the voter's hands.

You could be the best candidate, run a awesome campaign, and lose.

You could run a mediocre campaign and be so popular and win.

Mm-hmm.

So it's this moment that we dealing with right now- This is good ... what they dealing with is really something that's inexplicable.

And all the campaign workers, and I want to give a shout-out to everybody who offered themselves in wanting to lead- Yes ... hearing their voices.

Now they need to be given credit- Yes ... a- as well, but to the victor go to spoils, and St.

Thomas, I will send that message.

St.

Thomas and St.

John- Mm-hmm ... I will send that message, the future is now.

And Imani Daniel to the lead.

And, I mean- With the lead ... isn't that amazing?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, with the lead.

To the lead.

Very impressive.

Yes.

Yes.

Very, very impressive.

And I'm not surprised because I interviewed her- I wasn't surprised either.

I know.

She- Oh, gosh ... sounded the part, and the voters voted accordingly.

Right.

And now they got to deliver.

Well, I believe we have a candidate on the line.

Yeah.

Hi.

Good evening, Senator Johnson.

Good evening.

How are you doing?

I am well.

Oh.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Anything to say?

How does it feel this evening to be- Reelected ... elected once again, reelected?

And I think this one is a sweet victory, a really sweet victory.

I worked hard, and my campaign, my chief of staff, my good buddy, Chip Knight I'm still in Frisco Set Town celebrating with my friends and then I head over by- Mm-hmm ... the Congress lady and Potter place.

But I want to say thank you to all who have came out there and support me and- Mm-hmm ... my support stretched throughout the Virgin Islands.

I have folks- I know ... in St.

Thomas, St.

John that- That's right ... tell me, "I wish we could vote for you."

Aw.

And that means a lot.

Such a sweet- And so I- Such a sweet man ... just want to say thanks to Almighty God, and we got a lot of work to do.

Yeah.

And I'm prepped to do the work.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Any questions for the senator?

Am I allowed to- Senator Ele?

Am I allowed to call him by his affectionate name, or do I have to call him- ... do I have to call him Senator Johnson tonight?

Again, but Frankie G, Senator Johnson, congratulations.

And I know you went through- Thank you very much ... you went through a lot of personal issues throughout the term, and I'm glad that the people rewarded you, and you're a four-time elected senator, which means something.

So, keep on keeping on for the people of St.

Croix, and you've always said- Thank you ... you're a Virgin Island senator, so we appreciate- Yes ... that as well.

Good looking out.

That's right, Senator.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much for your service.

All right.

Yes.

If I may, congratulations to you.

Looking at the- Thank you ... the results territory-wide, and in the St.

Croix district, it once again is just one non-Democrat- Mm-hmm ... being elected.

Mm-hmm.

And there's a whole lot of independents.

I understand that you also were a big supporter of the at-large candidate.

Can you break up?

I didn't hear you, Senator Richards.

I said, I understand that you had also publicly endorsed- Mm.

Wow ... the Senate at-large candidate.

I see.

Do you- Most definitely ... do you see- Mm-hmm ... an opportunity for an organized approach to legislation, an organized approach?

I don't mean whether you're majority/minority, but you have a group of people working together to achieve particular goals.

Mm-hmm.

I've always asked for this.

I never was fortunate to get it because at the end of the day, it's about the Virgin Islands.

It's not about Democrats, independents, Republicans.

I've always ruled that stand, and I say it all the time.

I ask my colleagues in St.

Croix, St.

Thomas, "Let's meet."

But you know how this political arena goes.

Sometimes the Democrats want to have their meeting first, whatever they want to do.

But at the end of the day- That's right ... we have to come together for the best decision-making, the best team leaders to look out for these people of these territories.

We're going through some rough times, but we have a lot of opportunity to turn it around right- Wow ... steer the ship in the right direction and move it forward.

And I also did, I endorsed Delegate Plaskett and President Potter, who will be making some history- Yeah ... because he's going to be the first female governor, is going to be the first congresswoman making it to governor, is going to be the first president from the legislature, and his first shot, as far as I know- Mm-hmm ... becoming lieutenant governor.

It's also going to be the first time two brothers in the history going to be lieutenant governor.

But beyond the history, it's about the work.

Mm-hmm.

And I look forward in working with them- Yep ... hearing them and telling them if I see- That's right ... things that I think needs to be fixed, because that's who I am, a very outspoken person, and- Mm-hmm ... I ain't come this far to keep my mouth shut.

So we got a lot of work to do, and I look forward to working with all these new ones that are elected.

I wish them well, and hopefully we meet very soon.

And as you say, organized to put the best team forward, first of all, for the legislative body and for the people of this territory.

All right.

And just, if I may- Let me correct you.

You want to correct you with Derek.

Just, no, I- One at a time, gentlemen.

Yeah, I don't want to correct him.

I just want to inform him that we did mention earlier in the program before the results came in that you were one of the first candidates for re-election that endorsed the Plaskett/Potter team from the time that they announced.

Mm-hmm.

So I don't want you to believe that we- All right.

We did notice that ... we didn't take that into consideration.

Yes.

Oh.

And I did, I got a call from Senator Potter, President Potter, thanking me for that bold position in coming out front and just thanked me for being there, and supporting them.

Yeah.

He say he believes truly it made a big difference in how people vision the team and what they expect of the team.

And it's a lot of work, and they got a lot of work to do, and I ready to put on the boots from tomorrow and start working.

All right.

All right?

Thank you so much, Senator Johnson.

Well, I say thank you, guys, very much.

I want to say thank you to the people of the- Thanks for calling ... Virgin Islands and the people of St.

Croix who went out and continuously supported me.

I'm here to work for you.

Chuck Knight, the family at Knight Family down in the corner, Chief of Staff Maureen, Vice Secretary Dada, Natalia, thank you, guys.

We worked, and we got it done, so let's get on the job and make it happen now.

Thank you, guys.

All righty.

Have a great night.

Bye.

Thank you.

He's such a doll.

All right.

I just wanted to correct the record that Derek Hodge was the Senate President, and then he ran with Farrelly and was elected.

And Farrelly, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it's just a correction.

We do have another- And she said- We do have another candidate on the line that we want to say congratulations to.

She said no.

Okay.

Raven Phillips.

Oh, Raven.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Hello.

Congratulations.

Can everybody hear me all right?

We can hear you.

Yes, we can hear you loudly.

We can hear you wonderfully.

Raven, congratulations.

I believe the last time, Raven, that you and I spoke on cameras, you were actually here in the studio with me, and now you have been elected to the Board of Elections.

Congratulations.

How does it feel?

It feels amazing.

Life is full of such serendipity, especially in such a small community like ours.

It means the world to me that people came together, left their homes, went to go vote.

Mm-hmm.

To come from sitting at that table with you discussing elections, to being elected to the Board of Elections.

In my interview with Neville James, I didn't get a chance to remind him, but I had previously interviewed with him as well.

I'm not sure if he remembers, but I interviewed with him while I was Miss UVI, and it was such a wonderful conversation.

Oh, good times.

Yeah.

And to be able to come back around and have this full circle moment- Isn't that nice?

Of running for an elected office and speaking with him again.

It's such a beautiful thing to be part of this community, to be able to speak on behalf of the people that I love and the place that I love, and I just really want to thank everybody that came out to support me, and I want to stress to the people of the Virgin Islands, the future is here.

The future is bright.

A bright way forward is coming.

All right.

Neville, any questions for Raven?

I just want to say congratulations.

You sounded good on LA's This- Yeah ... and you're sounding good tonight.

Keep up the good work.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

All righty.

Thank you so much, Raven, and congratulations once again.

Absolutely.

Have a wonderful evening.

You as well.

Okay.

I want to ask Raven.

Raven, what's it like, you know, me and Usie, like I said, we're washed, right?

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy.

Okay, wait.

Okay, wait.

Oh, boy.

Well, you- He's not washed He may not want to admit it, but- Listen ... you know, we're a generation gone.

What's it like listening to your peers, being given this consent by the voters, and are you now in a position to run things?

It's a wonderful feeling that the older generation believes in- Mm-hmm ... us.

You watch us grow up, and you nurtured us.

This generation, Imani, Raven, myself, we had good, good counsel from good- Mm ... good, wise elders, and so it's nice to see that now that we are trying to push our way forward to take care of y'all generation.

Yes.

Yes.

Thank you.

We've heard the same.

You good.

It's a warming feeling that we are actually being trusted, and we're being given- The opportunity ... the opportunity to show up.

And I just wanted to say, when I say washed, it's tongue in cheek.

I mean, please don't take me seriously.

Well, no, Usie already told me it's his generation is who voted for- For all of them ... for all of them.

Wait, no.

Exactly.

We do have another caller on the line.

He wasn't joking.

We do have another caller on the line.

Oh, good.

Good evening, Senator DeGraff.

Yes, good evening.

How are you do this evening?

I'm fine, thank you.

Good.

All right.

Seeing the numbers come in this evening, Senator DeGraff- That's it ... what do you have to say to the people of the Virgin Islands?

First of all, I'd like to say a thank you to the Lord for blessing me with five terms, and for the people who would vote for me and put me in position where it's just strictly about the people.

Thank you to my staff.

They work hard.

I highly appreciate them.

Thank you to all the people who came out and vote for me.

Thank you to all the people who came out and vote, period.

Thank you to all the winners, and thank you all the persons who put themselves up on the line for serving the public.

I'd just like to say that here, I'm not going anywhere.

I live here.

I'm a resident.

I may not be moving forward, but I would stand strong support for the people who decide to put themselves on the line to defend this territory.

Mm-hmm.

And congratulations to all the winners.

Congratulations.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

And Senator DeGraff, I just wanted to say, first of all, we served one term together, and I want you to know, you got a lot of people who run for office and were never successful.

You were given the consent five times.

That means something.

Wow.

Mm-hmm.

And the work you did, that means you got reelected four times, so that means you delivered on behalf of your constituents.

Keep your head up.

Thank you very much for your contributions to the Virgin Islands.

Thank you for your service.

Yes, thank you very much too, also, for your leadership and your guidance for when I was there.

I highly appreciate it.

Thank you, Senator.

All righty.

Have a good evening.

Thank you, Senator.

Yes, thank you.

All right.

Now, on the line- That's classy.

I just want to put that on the record.

Yes, that was- That was classy.

He wasn't successful, and he called in.

He called in.

Yeah.

And he still called in.

That was great.

Well, we do have a winner on the line.

We have Delegate Elect Janelle Sarro.

Good evening.

Congratulations.

Ooh, congratulations.

Congratulations.

Hi, good evening.

Good evening.

Congratulations.

How are you this evening?

How are you feeling?

Oh, I'm good.

I'm good.

Speechless, honestly, but it'll sink in at some point.

It's a little surreal.

All right.

All right.

Usie, did you have a question for Delegate Elect Sarro?

This is Delegate Elect Sarro.

No, she asked, Usie- I asked if somebody has a question for you.

Oh.

Okay, okay, okay, Miss.

I understand now.

I was hoping that you didn't- She's fine ... start answering your own questions now.

She's happy.

And then get- Congratulations on the win.

I had mentioned earlier, long before the results came in, that it was at least clear to not only me but voters territory-wide- Mm-hmm ... that the race has been called since the Democratic primary of August has been over.

Mm-hmm.

I am interested in hearing you speak about what sort of vision you have right now, now that you are sure you're into this office, for the people of the Virgin Islands, given some of the problems that you have heard of, and most importantly, the impact of power outages in the district of St.

Thomas and St.

John, because we have two from the district over here, and they solely tell us that if we want to get rid of incumbents, just get somebody to shut off WAPA power.

Yeah, no.

I don't know what's the bottleneck.

I need to ascertain that with working with Stacy, who is our governor-elect.

But I will never campaign on a promise to just fix WAPA.

I'm no engineer, but our disaster recovery has to move forward.

I know right now one of the big things I probably would champion Through forming relationships and coalitions and kindness, which we are already doing right now, is to reduce our cost share of 24 billion.

I think our cost share is between 2% to 3%, which is 500 million that they're looking for.

The territory simply can't afford that.

Also, a federal state of emergency that will not unlock financial resources, but to work with the local government in unlocking those technical resources, the Army Corps of Engineers, American Public Power Association, et cetera.

We really have to look at how we handle WAPA.

Better project management.

We have to be honest about the culture in WAPA, the bad decisions that we've made over the years, and chart a new course with corrective measures.

But overall, we basically have most of the office mapped out.

We've had lengthy discussions with members, Catherine Cook, she's the Democratic whip.

I've spoken at length with Pete Aguilar, who's our Democratic chairman now.

Ted Lieu, we spoke earlier today.

Rosa for Connecticut.

So we've been making the connections back and forth, and we already submitted our letters drafted for the committees that we want to be on.

So there's a lot of moving parts that's happening right now on the DC side.

Mm-hmm.

And Stacey has also been a tremendous help in our transition process.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

Congratulations.

Well, congratulations- Congratulations ... Delegate Elect Sarro.

We look forward to- Thank you ... seeing your term and what will come from your tenure.

Yes.

Congrats.

Congratulations, Janelle.

All right.

Really excited for you.

Have a good one.

Okay, bye-bye.

Bye.

All right.

And I believe we have... This would be Senator Gittens.

Good evening, Senator Gittens.

How are you?

I am well.

How are you this evening?

Congratulations.

Good evening.

Thank you.

All right.

Now, Senator Gittens coming in second right now.

Mm-hmm.

How does it feel to, once again, for the voters of St.

Croix to reelect you to serve another term in the St.

Croix district?

I am so grateful.

But first and foremost, I really want to give thanks to the Almighty for his guidance and blessings.

Mm-hmm.

And even to my mom in heaven looking over me.

I had a very emotional morning this morning just thinking about my mom, and my daughter sent me a text and just sent me into a frenzy thinking about my mom.

So I just want to say thanks to the Almighty and to my mom who is in heaven looking over me.

And I want to also sincerely thank everyone who supported me and placed their confidence in me.

Congratulations to all those elected, and even to those, I commend those who have offered themselves for public service.

I know this is not easy, regardless of the outcome.

So the campaign for me now, I'm saying to everyone, is behind us, and now it's time to get to work.

Mm-hmm.

The real work has to be done.

We have much more to accomplish, and our focus must be on creating a better quality of life for all Virgin Islanders.

So God bless us all.

All right.

Senator- Thank you, Senator ... congratulations.

Seven terms now.

That means something.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

I truly appreciate that and intend to work my behind off and make sure that the Virgin Islands is on the map more prominently, and particularly pushing some agendas for the island of St.

Croix.

Awesome.

All right.

Well, Senator Gittens, we thank you so much for calling in.

Congratulations.

We appreciate you- Yes ... giving us your time.

Congratulations once again.

Thank you.

And thank you all so much for educating the public.

I've been listening to the discussions and whatnot, and thank you.

We need to have this a little more so that people could understand how government works in the territory.

All right.

So thank you all for all that you're doing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Congratulations again.

Congratulations.

I just want to point out something here real quickly to show you how the population reduction in the Virgin Islands has impacted elections.

Senator Cord Viollet is a leading vote getter with 6,498 votes on St.

Croix.

Mm-hmm.

20 years ago, 2006, Cord Viollet with 6,494 votes would have finished eighth.

Would've lost.

He wouldn't have made a top seven.

Right.

He would've lost.

I know the guy who ran seventh with 6,600.

UC ran third that year.

We have lost a lot of our population- A lot of people ... in the Virgin Islands.

Mm-hmm.

And not just the population, a lot of our voting population, because that reduction, I think it went from 106,000 in 2010 to 87,000 in 2020 with the census.

Right?

That's a 20% reduction.

But from a voting standpoint, the reduction is even greater.

Mm-hmm.

The percentage reduction is even greater.

And these are the things I... And I'm a technocrat, right?

So I think people don't really appreciate folks who want to get into the details and into the numbers.

We want to keep things superficial, and we got to be a little bit more detailed, like when UC and yourself were asking, we need to see how the people from 18 to 30 vote, how voters from 30 to 45, 40 to 65, and that, because when you get those details, then you have more information to make meaningful and rational decisions going forward.

It can't be just emotion-based.

No, the data is important.

Yes.

And if I could add to what Neville said, just like we had um- A departure of a whole lot of folks when the refinery closed.

There's a real human- Hurricanes ... resource impact with the hurricanes of Maria- Yeah ... and Irma.

Irma.

And although we decided to stay home- Mm-hmm ... but are going through the need for rebuilding, re-energizing structures that have lost.

We had people that just had to leave.

Mm-hmm.

And because at one time, in my early times when I just started working in the '70s, we were having a population of 100 to 110,000 people.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

That's right.

We got 75 to 80,000 people in territory where we have a whole lot.

I believe we have another caller on the line.

Good evening.

Senator Charles?

Senator Elect Charles?

I heard- Hello?

I heard something.

I- The person's still there.

I believe- Hold on.

Hold on.

Line four.

Yes.

Four.

I picked up line four.

Hello, good evening.

The... Look, right.

All right.

They've dropped.

All right.

I think, I believe we lost the call, so- They'll call back They come calling back.

Let's see.

All right.

Let me get it.

Let me get it.

Hello, good evening.

Yes.

Right.

Hello.

Yes, hello.

Good evening.

Is this WJDG?

Yes.

Is this WJDG?

Yes, it is.

Hello, Senator Vealey.

Hi, good evening, Senator Vealey.

Oh, good evening, Senator Vealey.

Yeah, you sound so hoarse.

We can actually recognize your voice.

Because I am hoarse.

I've been having some- I was like, "Vealey?

Okay."

So it's true.

I've been a bit hoarse and I was just talking to my campaign team, so I'm a little bit hoarse.

Okay, good night.

So thanks.

Good night to you guys.

Good night and congratulations.

And congratulations.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

And I appreciate the analysis that you guys have been doing all night.

Some- Thank you ... very interesting perspective.

All right.

Senator Vealey, first of all, we were commenting on the jerseys that- Oh, great.

Yes ... your supporters were wearing.

Marcelina wanted jerseys.

And the baseball shirts.

I help in her out.

No problem.

We were just wondering.

But no, in all seriousness- It was designed, my daughter, my oldest daughter designed the jersey.

Okay.

Oh, that's great.

Great.

And in all ser- Reflective of the years that I've been in the Senate since winning the first election in 2014.

But Senator, you are being fair because when I was wearing my football jersey and you were telling me, "How come you got your T-shirt?"

Now you got on a baseball jersey.

You see what happened?

It's called progress.

That's right.

That's right.

Okay, fair thing.

Well done.

That's right.

Congrats, man.

Senator Vealey, I want to ask you- Oh, thank you ... going into another term in the legislature, what do you see as your top priority?

And working with new senators- New senators.

Mm-hmm ... who will be a part of the 37th legislature.

The priorities are so great because the Virgin Islands really isn't in a good place.

I don't think that I can remember a particular period in time where we have faced so many problems.

Mm-hmm.

From the University of the Virgin Islands with the Middle States Accreditation to the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority with the monies being suspended, to the healthcare crisis, to crime.

There are so many issues that we really must hit the ground running in January.

And we also need to continue to hit the ground running right now.

But there's a lot of issues that we need to face, and I'm hoping that- Right ... this new composition and having a new governor- Mm-hmm ... moving into that particular role, that we'll be able to collectively work together to address some of the issues facing the Virgin Islands.

I just heard your comments in reference to the number of individuals that voted versus 2006, that Senator Rivera talked about.

We're just speaking about losing about 30,000 people.

And that is significant.

Incessions.

And a lot of those individuals are leaving the Virgin Islands, not only because of employment, but also because of education and lack of health services.

So there's a lot that we need to do to be able to rebuild the Virgin Islands.

Mm-hmm.

And I've already began some discussions with members of the legislature that were there before as to what we need to do different to make sure that we have accountability and transparency, and force those individuals in leadership positions to perform the job from the onset in January.

Because it's going to be very important how we start the next legislature and how we start the next administration.

It just can't be more of the norm.

We normalize the bad behavior.

Yes.

I wanted to ask you something, but in your final commentary in response to Marcelina, I believe you cover it, and I'll just repeat it in case you might have missed something.

I like this ad that was being played by the Democratic Party- Mm-hmm ... and introduced by the state chair of the party with the comments that you made down there on Company Street.

Do you care, you want to elaborate and just explain a little bit to the listeners?

I think it was the comment more at the rally.

I think it was a Democratic rally, but my comment then to the party was that- I've been very successful as a Democrat, but in all honesty, when you traverse the Virgin Islands, there are a lot of people that have issues with the Democratic Party.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

They have issues with the way that the party functions and what the party has been able to achieve.

And it is time for the Democratic Party to realize and identify that there are issues.

Yes.

And then determine as to how we're going to move forward to be able to have the community, the Virgin Islands, begin once again to embrace the Democratic Party.

Because right now they have lost faith with the party.

They more vote individually as to whether or not they're thinking that you're doing a good job.

Mm-hmm.

But it's very important that they feel comfortable with the Democratic Party, and that we begin to have some of the party politics in the Virgin Islands.

I have told my fellow Democrats that you're as good as your opposition.

Yes.

And you could never be scared of opposition because opposition allows you to refine your product and to do a better job.

Hear that?

All right.

So I always welcome opposition.

Sorry.

And I don't believe that because we are members of one party- Yes ... you can't push back when something isn't right.

Well, it- That it's a responsibility as a party itself, to be able to come up with position papers that if the chief executive's doing something and they don't think it is in the best interest, that you come out and you have those behind the door meeting where you say no.

But you can't just rubber stamp everything because you're a Democrat.

Thank you.

And I'm not that type of Democrat.

I'm going to rubber stamp everything that is in the best interest of the people of the Virgin Islands.

For sure.

And not that is in the best interest of a specific group.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, Senator Vielle.

We appreciate that very much.

And you'll call me tomorrow.

All right.

Don't forget that.

Now, I do want to take this call.

This is a very important call, and I want to be the first to congratulate our governor elect, Ms.

Stacey Plaskett.

Congratulations.

Good evening, Governor-Elect Plaskett.

Congratulations, Governor-Elect Plaskett.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening to you all, and good evening to your viewers and listeners.

Good evening.

Good evening.

It is an honor to be speaking to the first female- First female ... to be elected to be the governor of the US Virgin Islands.

And I want to take a moment, Governor-Elect Plaskett, and just have you talk about your political journey and what it feels like right now to be making history.

That's an interesting question because I guess so many people have talked about it, but I have not really focused on that in this campaign.

I think we purposefully stayed away from that and tried to focus on the issues, and it's always been my thought to be the best, not just to be the first woman.

My life has been going into spaces where people who look like me, whether through gender or race, were not there, and always having to over-perform.

And I see this as just another one of those steps in so many Black women's lives, where they are first through the door, but they feel that great weight and responsibility to those that came before them and those that will come after, not to let anyone down, and to overextend themselves, and to perform at a highest level so that there can be no doubt or any questions about what they are doing.

And I'm prayerful that my governorship will be that way, with the grace of God and good people with me, and with a great running mate and an amazing family.

All right.

All right.

Ocie, you had a question for Governor-Elect Plaskett?

No, I didn't have a question.

Okay.

I just had a comment.

I actually... Okay.

Radiant, do you have a question?

To kind of congratulations, and I let Radiant- Okay, Radiant.

Well, more or less, well, it's a question and a comment.

I know WAPA will probably be a priority, but in your term, can you also maybe take a look at us not being considered international when it comes to shipping and so forth?

It's very difficult when, especially being a small business owner, getting things from the States, it costs almost triple the amount.

So, I would appreciate it in your term if you can take a look at that, please.

Oh, my goodness.

I was stuck.

You gave me suggestions.

There wasn't really a question in there.

Oh.

That's what I was saying.

I don't think it's much of a question, but maybe a request.

Consistently, Milton and I have said consistently that WAPA is a major priority, and you will see in January, within the first 100 days, a very specific program and actions to be taken with regard to WAPA.

We have promised to call a state of emergency and to seek federal emergency support, both from the Department of Energy and from the President.

And I said that we really need to do a cost study analysis as to the benefits as well as the costs to being outside of the custom zone, like several other territories, the smaller territories are at this time.

And we would be happy to engage economists in figuring that out.

Mm-hmm.

But I think more importantly, when you talk about shipping, we really want to move on the Virgin Islands, being, as we have said in our campaign, the trans-shipment gateway between Africa, the rest of the Caribbean, and the United States.

And that involves both in terms of movement across water, across the air, as well as digitally.

And we're going to move very quickly in those areas.

All right.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Now, Governor-Elect Plaskett, I want to ask you, do you have any words for the people of the Virgin Islands this evening?

I know you have to get on a plane very soon.

Any words that you want to tell the people of the Virgin Islands?

Well, of course, I have to say thank you.

I would not have any good brought upsies if I didn't say thank you first.

And so I, of course, want to say thank you, and I mean that, and I'm grateful for this opportunity.

And as I said to my supporters here in St.

Thomas and those that were listening on St.

John and St.

Croix, that I will not be perfect, but know that every day as a mother fights for her family, I'm going to fight for you.

I'm going to sacrifice for you.

I'm going to put you ahead of myself.

And every morning when I wake up, it's going to be to serve the people who have put their confidence in me to make the Virgin Islands not just a place for us to live and to have the same benefits that live or be anywhere else, but for us to truly once realize the greatness that we are capable of with our diversity of people, our geographic location, and the American flag.

There's absolutely no reason that seven nations should become rich from us and we not receive that richness ourselves.

Yes, ma'am.

You're coming on tomorrow morning or what?

Yep.

You're coming on this show- Tomorrow morning, what you want, Andy?

What are you doing?

Hear that?

No, the victory party is going to go on for a long time when we get back to St.

Croix.

Well, I will tell you, when you guys leave the station, we're heading over to St.

Croix.

I've already asked them to bring a crate of eggs because we figure we'll be making omelets in the morning.

We're going to be going through the night.

But I'm just blessed to be not just the first woman governor, but the first Black female governor in the United States.

United States.

Be careful.

Kesha Martin.

Kesha's votes haven't come in yet.

Be careful, Kesha.

Kesha also- Kesha is leading in- Has now has had the highest percentage- But she's first ... of any elected governor- But she's first ... in a general election first round, and we're going to take that as a mandate to do great things- That's right ... for the people.

Yeah, right?

And you might have company because Kesha leading in Georgia, so two of you could talk later tonight.

I would love that.

I know you would.

That's my soror.

That's my friend.

I can't wait for Kesha to be there, for the two of us to sit together, to work together.

Jennifer Gonzalez Colon across the water with my colleague in Congress, and I intend to work very closely with her as well.

Good.

It's going to be an amazing time.

Yes.

I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity to speak with you, to your viewers and listeners, and as I said, let's get to work.

Tell her- Yes.

Thank you.

As she says, you better work.

Yeah.

All right.

Tell the lieutenant governor elect- Bye-bye ... we send- Bye-bye ... congratulations to her.

Yes.

Yeah.

All right.

My gosh, I'm so excited.

Wow.

That is exciting.

Wow.

Marcelina, congratulations.

You get the first interview.

I got the first.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

That we know of.

That we know of.

All right.

Now we do have on the line, Vincent Gordon.

Congratulations, Mr.

Gordon, Dr.

Gordon.

Yes.

Thank you.

How does it feel this evening to be elected and to have garnered the votes that you did from the people of St.

Croix?

Well, I feel honored and also responsible to the residents of the US Virgin Islands, uh, in ensuring quality education continues for our students, as well as an opportunity for continued growth for faculty, staff, and administrators, and of course, the Virgin Islands Department of Education.

So I just want to thank the voters for electing me as the newly elected member of the Board of Education.

Mm-hmm.

I want to give our teacher on the panel right now an opportunity to ask you a question as he prepares to serve the territory on the Board of Education.

Sure.

So what are some of the things that you envision for your term for the Board of Education?

We have a lot of issues, a lot of disparities.

Mm-hmm.

What are maybe your top three things that you would like to take on?

Right.

Thank you so very much for that question.

And so on my platform, one of the first things that we need to address is updating the policies of the Board of Education.

The Board of Education has already started, and kudos to them for doing so.

But there's still a number of policies that need to be updated and in alignment with the Virgin Islands code, the VI law.

Uh, that way, we protect our faculty, staff, and administrative teams.

Not only updating the policies is important, but also communicating the policies to our internal and also our external stakeholders.

So your teachers, your faculty, your staff, your administrative teams, they need to know what the policies are beyond what's posted on the Board of Education's website.

So frequent town hall meetings are important, utilizing social media.

The Department of Education does a fantastic job of showcasing and highlighting what is happening within the department through their YouTube channel and their Facebook page.

So it might be a good idea for the Board of Education to do likewise.

So those are the two top areas that I would like to focus on, along with the other eight members of the Board of Education.

Another area is to create a policy that protects our students, faculty, staff, and administrative teams when it comes to artificial intelligence, AI.

Oh, good.

Excellent.

So we need to have a policy in place that ensures that our students learn about digital citizenship, but also digital literacy as well.

Not just how to use the technology, but how to use the technology responsibly.

Responsibly.

All right.

And- Thank you so much.

Okay.

That's great.

Well, thank you, Dr.

Gordon.

Thank you.

We want to thank you once again, and we want to congratulate you, and we look forward to-- We hope that you have a successful term.

Thank you so very much.

All righty.

Congratulations.

Again, the voters voted for me.

All right.

I look forward to that being the digital literacy- Yes ... feature.

Really?

That's exciting.

His dad was a very popular Pastor Gordon, educator at Central High School.

At Central High School.

Yeah.

And I was just- Oh, that's where he comes from?

I do have another- At Central?

I do have another candidate on the line.

Yes, but I was just going to tell Radiance, all his dad's students who vote for him Vote for him, yes.

Good evening.

I have Shamari Haynes on the line.

Good evening, Mr.

Haynes.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Congratulations.

How are you feeling this evening?

I am overwhelmed.

I'm excited.

I feel really good.

Oh, yes.

A great sense of responsibility, man, but I feel really, really, really good.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Congratulations, man.

Congratulations.

Neville, you had a question for Shamari?

Shamari, you are known as a culture bearer for the Virgin Islands.

Mm-hmm.

You work at tourism.

Now you're going to deal with elections, responsibilities, potentially election reform.

You got your work cut out for you, young man.

I know it all well.

You feeling good?

I feeling good.

I feeling good.

I feeling ready.

I'm excited, man.

Just based on the way how Virgin Islanders voted, it's clear that we want change.

I think that it's very clear that the young people's time is now.

Yes.

I've been doing this work before even deciding to throw my hat in the ring.

And even if the election did not work out in my favor, I would have still continued the work that I've been doing all this time.

I'm no stranger to this community.

I currently serve as a deputy commissioner of tourism.

Like you mentioned, most people know me from my carnival troupe.

Mm-hmm.

But there's a whole other side of me that people don't know.

I like this political arena.

I like politics.

I like the political history.

I like engaging.

I like getting people engaged.

So just looking forward to continuing that work.

We are in a pivotal moment right now in Virgin Islands history, and it's time that we elect candidates who are ready to do the job.

Too much time has been spent talking about this thing, talking about what we can do.

Yes.

It's time that we hold each other accountable and get work done, man.

It's time.

So I'm excited about what will come of this, but I also know that I'm ready, and I'm very prepared because I know that I've been doing the work leading up to tonight.

Very quickly, Shamari, in 30 seconds, what's one of the first things that you want to work on when you start your tenure on the Board of Elections?

The Board of Elections needs to do a much better job at actually touching the people.

Along this campaign trail- Yes ... I realized that a lot of people are still missing from.

There's a lot of misinformation out in the community.

So, I just want to continue the work that I've been doing within my own personal life.

You get that in the mix while running, like into the board.

I elected to the board, I got actually get used to saying that now.

Mm-hmm.

I just continue doing the work.

The Board of Election have to show up.

We have to show up.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

All right.

Well, Shamari, we'll look forward to seeing you show up.

Have a good evening.

Congratulations again.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Now, on the line we do have Clifford Joseph.

Good evening, Senator Joseph.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you, and I want to say first thank you to the Almighty Father.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

Senator Joseph, I believe I can hear the feedback in the background.

So if you could turn on the TV or the radio.

Yes, I'm here and- There we go ... and thank you to all the voters that came out.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you have a big feedback in your background.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know if you're close to a radio or the television, because I know we broadcast.

So you can hear me now?

Yes.

We can hear you.

We could hear you all the time.

It's just we were hearing you and whatever it was in the background.

Okay, good.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Let's start back from the beginning.

First, I'd like to thank the Almighty for giving me the health and strength to make it through the whole election portion of this 2026 election period.

Mm-hmm.

Thank all the voters that went out to cast a vote, because that's very important.

The election can't get going unless they go out and do what they have to do.

I know during my first tenure, I had a controversial bill, which was the gun bill that a lot of folks didn't really understand.

I took the big leap and took on the challenge because that's not a subject matter that most folks want to deal with.

We do have a tremendous amount of too much murders within the Virgin Islands for the last, I guess, with the rise up and down like the waves.

But I'm here for any other question you might have for me tonight.

Mm-hmm.

We'll ask what's one of those priorities that maybe you didn't get to work on during this tenure or you don't see it happening before the end of this tenure that you are planning to pick up in this going into the 37th?

Well, I'm working on a remote workers bill because I want to make sure that we have the tax base in place to allow individuals to come to the Virgin Islands to work and pay your taxes here and spend your money here.

Because the problem we have is a lot of folks start to work remotely and shortly after when it's time the tax thing come around- Mm-hmm ... employers are telling them, "You have a choice.

Either you have to leave or you have to come back and deal with it."

Mm-hmm.

So I wanted to make sure that we could fix that, so allow some more money to add to our tax base.

All right.

Well, Senator Joseph, we want to thank you for calling in, and once again, tell you congratulations.

Great point.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Senator.

Mm-hmm.

All right Thank you.

Thanks.

See, that's what's needed, new revenue-generating ideas.

Generating legislation.

Yes.

Yes.

We do have another- Oh.

I didn't say anything ... we have another caller on the line.

We do have another senator on the line.

Senator Blyden, good evening.

Congratulations.

Oh, Senator Blyden, congratulations.

Congratulations, Senator Blyden.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

I first met Senator Blyden on one of these- I want to first thank God for all of his blessings he bestowed upon me and my family.

I also want to thank the people of the Virgin Islands for actually having the faith and confidence in me to serve them again in the 37th District of the Virgin Islands.

And finally, I want to thank the people of the Virgin Islands for basically their constructive criticism and for their support over the years.

I'm truly grateful and honored to be re-elected once again.

Senator Blyden, seven consecutive elections.

Take a bow, man.

You are awesome.

It wasn't easy, man.

It wasn't easy.

On my way home from the poll, to bring home some of the stuff to go back on the road, it wasn't easy, and I think that played a major role in this district, to be honest with you.

We have challenges and we have a lot of work to do, and I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves and get working for the people.

I know.

So we have work to do ahead, some serious work.

But I want to say congratulations, though, to the brand-new governor of the Virgin Islands, Dr.

Keith Powell, for the victory, convincing victory as a matter of fact, for the term of I guess 2027.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Also, I want to say for those that did not win, just keep doing what you guys are doing.

Stay involved.

And those that won in terms of different categories, just congratulations, and honestly, we have a lot of work to do, and we need to really get to work as fast as possible.

It's not going to be easy, I must tell you that.

We have a lot of challenges ahead of us, but nonetheless, I look forward to working with the new senators- Me too ... and the new gubernatorial team in terms of working together on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands.

I'm just pretty excited, and I'm ready to go.

All right.

Good night, Senator Blyden.

A special congratulations to you.

I want to say a congratulations to you, and at least for me, I just want to recognize your willingness to always work on the issues that require you to go- That matter ... into the ditches, and you're willing to do the hard grassroots work, and a congratulations to you.

Yes.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

Much respect.

And don't forget, as a senior senator, you're going to look out and provide guidance for those younger senators that are coming in.

Yeah.

Like a certain senator did for you when you were a freshman.

Hey, Neville, I really honestly respect you, and I really appreciate how you worked with me, and that's automatic.

Oh yeah.

That's what you talking about.

That's who I am, and that's what I'm about.

As a matter of fact, I spoke to several of those individuals today, and I told them if they are successful, I look forward to working with them, and seeing how I can basically impact in terms of making it easier for them as they come along because it's a new position for them, and it's not as easy as they think.

Mm-hmm.

Correct.

But at the same time- That's right ... where we are- Correct ... basically work with them and make life easier for them, and an easier transition also.

Congratulations, man.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations.

Yes.

Good evening.

Have a good evening.

Evening.

I got to give this story.

Mm-hmm.

So I was flying to Newark last Wednesday.

I was on the plane.

Two strangers, they live in St.

Thomas.

We're not strangers anymore because we became friends on the flight.

Both are teachers, one at Bolter Bushelter and one at Lockhart.

And all they kept talking about was, "Yo, man, I hope the future does good."

So I wanted to tell Brendan and Julia, first of all, good night.

The future has arrived.

Arrived.

It is here.

Don't stop supporting them now that the campaign is over.

Because what happens is we vote for them, they get in, and then we kind of leave them alone and expect them to just deliver on their own.

Right.

That's not how it works.

No.

Well- And the learning curve is very, very steep as a freshman senator.

They're going to need your support going forward.

Right.

So congratulations on supporting those young people, and congratulations to St.

Thomas and St.

John- Well- ... for saying 2026 was a change election year.

Yes.

Well, I do want to say congratulations right now to incumbent Senator Avery Lewis, who we have on the line.

Good evening, Senator Lewis.

Oh, good evening.

Good evening, and congratulations, Senator Lewis.

I'm so happy.

We all are.

Senator Lewis?

Did you press the button?

Did you press your button?

I did, in fact, push the button, guys.

Okay.

Senator Lewis?

All right, well, I guess- I guess we lost him ... I guess- Senator Avery ... I guess we lost him.

Senator, say something.

All right, there we go.

But on the line, we do have a new incoming senator.

Hello?

Hello, good evening.

Yeah, hi.

We have- This is Amber.

Are we halfway through today?

Yes.

Yes.

We can- Will we be next?

Yes You're live ... yes.

Well, you're live on the air right now.

Who is this?

Oh, I hear Avery Lewis, so that's... Okay.

So one second.

Might have been delayed.

That was somebody holding on the line.

All right.

For the time being, I'm going to have to ask you guys to call back.

Tell them.

Neville, you were finishing your story?

No, I was just saying, every year we hear, every election cycle, the people saying, "Change."

And more often than not, the change doesn't happen at the levels like it happened tonight.

Tonight was truly- Oh yeah, this was truly ... tonight was truly- Yes, it was truly a shift ... a renaissance election cycle.

They didn't just win.

One of them was elected- One day ... with a double in.

Yeah Remember one vote getter ... St.

Thomas-St.

John district.

Yes.

Right?

And we also have two or three new senators in St.

Croix as well.

All right.

Absolutely.

We have Avery Lewis back on the line.

Good evening, Senator Lewis.

President, good evening.

How is everyone doing tonight?

Oh, we are well.

Good.

We're just happy to know- Congratulations ... you could operate a phone so we could reach you.

Congratulations.

Congrats.

Man, there has been some joy and everything with the technical difficulties.

Mm-hmm.

But thank God for everything, man.

We're going to blame the disconnect on WAPA, only because that's the easy out.

But Senator Lewis, how are you feeling this evening?

Man, I'm elated.

I don't know what a big word to use, but I'm elated, and I just thank the Father God for every day.

Mm.

Don't let your head- I'm looking forward to his next term.

I really am.

Yes.

I loved a lot of your legislations that you came out with, and I am looking forward to seeing what you do this next term.

I'm looking forward to some new revenue-generating- We have a new vision, a new future.

Yes.

Yes.

They put in the work, and it paid off.

I have nothing else to say.

Like I said, we need to work collaboratively together and move forward.

Mm-hmm.

It's a collaborative effort- Thank you ... to vote all these Virgin Islanders forward, and that's it.

All right.

I congratulate everybody.

I congratulate them.

I want to congratulate most of all, all the people in Virgin Islands who came out to vote.

Yes.

Because we have a problem, people coming out to vote, and I want them just to come out and make their voice heard.

Come out.

Mm-hmm.

Now, Senator Lewis, I asked your fellow colleague this earlier, but is there any legislation that you won't get an opportunity to touch before the end of this term that you're hoping to pick up in the next term?

Yes.

One I'm pushing is that, one that I have really at close to heart is that I would like to see that pharmacies be exempt from paying gross receipt or excise tax on prescription drugs to give the people of the Virgin Islands some relief.

And that's one I'm pushing before the close of this term.

Okay.

All right.

Well, Senator Lewis, we wish you all the best.

Thank you very much for calling in, and congratulations once again.

Thank you very much, and thank you to the people of the Virgin Islands.

Great to hear from you.

Congratulations.

Great to hear from you.

Senator, congrats, man.

All right.

Now, on the line, we have the upset queen, I guess right now.

I will give her that title right now.

Dr.

Hadiya Sewer- Oh, yes ... the new senator elect at large.

How are you feeling this evening, Dr.

Sewer?

Good evening.

Evening.

I have to say that I'm feeling incredibly wonderful, and of course, I have to say, to God be the glory, and I am super grateful for all of the people of the Virgin Islands who decided- All three islands ... that they would put their confidence in me to work on behalf of the people of our territory.

All right.

Hey, Jan?

All three islands voted for you, Senator.

You must be very impressed by that.

What are the priorities that you articulated that you believe got you this kind of vote?

I have to say that I fundamentally believe that it's important for us to be able to live well at home in the Virgin Islands, and so many people in our territory feel as though we are suffering with rolling power outages.

Our education system is inadequate.

We want to see our elders get the healthcare that they deserve.

And I really prioritize sustainable business development and the belief that the Virgin Islands should be a place where the people who reside here can thrive, and people really resonated with that.

But I feel like people also resonated with a group of young Virgin Islanders- Yes ... coming together to say that enough is enough, and that we want to fight for the future of our territory.

Mm-hmm.

The future.

It's very impressive that you and others were able to form this group, The Future, and pull out results like you did in the first time you're running.

This is very impressive.

Yes.

And we're very proud of you.

Thank you so much.

And I love her passion.

Yes.

You can see- I believe that this service is a bit spotty, but I believe I heard you say that it's impressive- Yes ... that we were able to pull out these results, and I'll say that it really just tells us a lot about the people of the Virgin Islands and where we all are- Mm-hmm ... that we're disenchanted with our current experience, and that we're all collectively willing to fight for a better future.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

And thank you for your passion and hard work.

Thank you.

All righty.

Have a wonderful evening.

You do the same.

All right.

Now, I believe we will now speak with the newly elected freshman senator, Jose B. Segonzales.

Good evening, Mr.

Gonzalez.

Senator.

Good evening.

How are you doing?

I am well.

How are you feeling this evening?

Still trying to figure it out.

Still trying to figure it out.

I'm grateful.

I just want to thank the people of St.

Croix, the voters.

Mm-hmm.

I'm truly humble and grateful for their support and the confidence the people have placed in me.

And I want to say thank you to my family, my campaign team, my volunteers, positive guidance.

Tonight we celebrate, but tomorrow the work begins.

Yes.

So I'm ready.

I'm ready to serve.

I'm ready to do for our families, our young people, and I'm ready to be a voice and put action in Great to hear.

Awesome.

Thank you, Senator.

Senator Bese, congrats, man.

Hey, man.

Thanks, man.

Thanks.

Thanks for all the advice and all the words of encouragement to everyone too.

Appreciate it.

He was humble.

And we got basketball administrator Ussie here, so I got to yield to the elder, Ussie.

No, I will simply say to Senator Gonzalez, Senator elect.

Mm-hmm.

I gone from beyond the Bese to offer you my congratulations.

I think that you conducted a well-run campaign for a first timer.

Yes.

And I expect that you will take- Thank you, man.

I appreciate it.

Yeah And I put the community to work and all.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah, and hopefully you get an opportunity to take the well-run campaign to take it to the office and have a well-run legislative office so that you could be productive for the people then that supported you.

But congratulations to you.

I appreciate it, man.

Mm.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

All righty, Senator elect Gonzalez, thank you for calling in.

Have a great evening.

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

You know, he's such a humble dude.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Basketball coach.

Yeah.

And sometimes you don't know if they really understand the rigors- Mm-hmm ... of what they're getting into in politics.

But I could see- Sounds like he does ... I could see that after the primary, he actually learned a lot- Mm-hmm ... in a short period of time.

And to see him win, it's not only a credit to him, it's a credit to the people of St.

Croix, who say, "You know something, we see somebody who's stepping up, and this change mantra that going on now, we want him to be a part of it."

Yeah.

So congrats to the voters as well.

That's great.

A first time candidate.

First time candidate winning the first time out.

You look at the other two- That doesn't happen I do ... who are there, they ran twice before.

Charles and Memi, correct.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

On the line with us, we have Kareem Francis for the Board of Elections.

Good evening, Mr.

Francis.

Yes.

Hi, good evening.

How are you guys doing?

Well.

Just great, thank you.

Mr.

Francis, you currently serve on the board, correct?

That's correct, yes.

All right.

Current vice chair of the board, yes.

Current vice chair of the board.

How does it feel to be reelected to serve another term?

Mm-hmm.

So it feels good, obviously.

I want to say thank you to everyone who saw it fit to cast their vote for me.

I look forward to, again, serving the community, for sure.

So it feels great.

Thank you.

All righty.

All right.

80,000.

Hello?

Yes.

Yes.

Congratulations.

Oh, okay.

You guys don't have no other question for me?

Was that the end of it?

Because I didn't have anything prepared.

I can- With the board- I didn't know what to expect when I called in.

Oh.

For the Board of Election, we want to know- That's correct.

Oh, I'm sorry ... as a current member, are you prepared to share with the public what can be done to bring some confidence to the public in regards to the conduct of the business of the Board of Election over these past years?

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Mr.

Vice Chair.

Excellent.

Thank you for that.

And may I ask who asked that question?

Was that Richard?

It sounded like Richard.

Yes, it was.

Yeah.

Okay, perfect.

Good.

So thank you.

For one, we have a lot of work to do.

And this is why, again, I offered myself to run for the board.

Mm-hmm.

Our elections are secure.

I want to say thank you to the staff, the supervisor, and her team for sure, because they conduct a really good and secure, transparent election.

Many times we put stuff out there to let the public know that it's available for them to come and view and participate, ask questions as needed.

It doesn't happen, but those then who have access to various platforms, social media, what have you, they tend to then offer one perspective, and unfortunately, I can see how it just goes to so type of... For instance, somebody said, "Don't cast your vote until you hear from us."

Anyway, we have opportunities here to really increase participation, and show people that our elections are secure.

We have an audit coming up starting on November 9th.

Mm-hmm.

Congrats to all the winners, first off, because again, I think it's clear we will not have a runoff election, so we can proceed with this audit.

It's going to be a transparent audit.

It's going to be available for the public to come and see in person, or you can see it live view.

It's going to be streamed online.

Mm-hmm.

And again, anyway, we have a lot to do.

I thank the supporters, everybody who saw it fit to cast a vote for me, and to all the winners, congratulations.

Whether you ran for governor, senate, what have you, whatever board, congratulations.

Let's take this seriously and get the work done.

All right.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Francis.

We appreciate you calling in and giving us your time, and congratulations once again.

Thank you all.

Have a great night.

You as well.

You too.

Now, I know that people focus, we live in the Virgin Islands here, but we can't ignore what going on the mainland.

Mm-hmm.

No, we can't.

And something monstrous is going on in the state of Texas.

It's going on, the House and Senate.

Where Colorado leading by almost 800,000.

And that was a Democrat.

Oh, my.

Yes.

And Arizona leading by about 500,000.

You said just 800,000?

800,000.

000.

That's awesome.

So the change ain't limited to America.

It's much closer.

It's everywhere.

Well, we are America.

You know what I'm saying?

We are American citizens.

Mainland America.

Mainland Americans.

There we go.

The Virgin Islands is- Just a correction ... change more.

No, you're absolutely correct.

Just a correction.

You're correct.

Don't get on Neville Casy because I'm going to have to defend him now.

All right.

That'll be fun.

Let's not switch roles now, guys.

All right.

I have to defend him.

All right.

Sometimes we forget America is not so central.

We do have Senator Carla Joseph on the line.

Senator Joseph, good evening.

Congratulations.

Oh, Carla, how are you?

Evening, good- Thank you, and a pleasant good evening to you and your entire panel.

I want to- Thank you ... first of all, give God all thanks and honor for bringing me here, bringing me through this 2026 election.

Of course, my exceptional campaign committee, Joseph Action Committee, as well as my staff, and of course, all the voters.

The voters, always, for having the confidence to re-elect me once again.

I really appreciate it.

I really am deeply touched.

I open my heart so the electorate can see, and the people of the Virgin Islands can see that I'm truly here to do the work.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm going to continue to do the work and fight as much as I can.

All right.

We have a question for you from one of our panelists, Radiance.

Senator Joseph, go ahead.

Congratulations, Senator Joseph.

I know that you have new members that you'll be working with.

What are some of the things that you feel are a priority?

I know everybody says WAPA, but we also have some other pressing issues that need to be addressed.

For example, the $10 million that came out of the Department of Education budget.

But what other- I can't believe they did that ... things, what are a couple of your priorities this term?

Well, definitely my priority is, as I always have done, is doing what I can to help our young people and to build up our young people in education.

So the $10 million that came out of the budget, I believe some of that money may have been unspent money.

But just to look at it from my perspective, we want to be accountable for everything that we do and have money spent and people actually are doing work, what they say they're going to do, when we appropriate money, and to continue to do the oversight.

The other thing I want to say is one of my priorities, of course, is going to be the healthcare outside of WAPA.

I'm on the PSC.

Outside of WAPA, definitely the healthcare that we have in the Virgin Islands.

I want to see the Charlotte Kimmelman Cancer Center- Awesome.

Yes ... ribbon cutting.

Mm-hmm.

Yes We have a lot of people who have to go off-island to receive certain types of cancer treatments, so we want to see that happen.

So that's one of my priorities, as well as housing.

Excellent.

And looking at where we are with the crime rate, because how is it that Tortola has two homicides?

I said that today.

Can you believe that?

I said that today.

We have a homicide rate of 45 on St.

Thomas- 46 Oh, it's 46 now.

Mm.

And Tortola only has two.

Yeah.

I'm telling you- Two ... this is startling news for me.

It's very startling.

And they don't have the level, for me at least, their minimum wage is less than ours.

We have a higher minimum wage.

Something is, there's a disconnect somewhere.

Mm.

There's a disconnect somewhere, and we need to get to the bottom of it.

All right.

And I think working with the incoming administration, we just got to be serious and just leave the egos outside.

Let's just do the work.

Mm.

Just let's get to work.

I'm here to work and do- Mm-hmm ... what I can using my knowledge and experience to move things forward.

All right.

Well, Senator Joseph, thank you once again, and congratulations.

Congratulations, Senator.

Congratulations, Senator Joseph.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I'm so thankful.

All right.

Thank you kindly.

Bye-bye.

Have a good night.

Have a good evening.

All right.

Now, before we take another caller, we do have video from St.

Thomas, taken a short time ago, a portion of Governor-elect Miskell Plaskett's victory speech.

Let's take a look.

We'll be the greatest island in the Caribbean.

With our history, our geography, our diverse people, and the American flag, we must realize our potential.

I will bring to this work the love, determination, and fierce responsibility with which a mother fights for her family.

I will listen, I will make difficult decisions, I will insist on results, and I will answer to you.

I will not be perfect.

I will not.

But every day, I will rise, and I will put you first.

Stay with us.

Bring your ideas, bring us your skills, and your willingness to serve.

Hold us accountable.

Help us build a Virgin Islands that becomes an example in the Caribbean of what is possible when government works as hard as its people do.

Let our children look back on this moment and say, "This is when the doors of opportunity and- All right.

Oh, I'm so excited.

The women on the panel were very- ... excited, felt very inspired watching that clip.

Radiance, you had a comment.

I want to give you the opportunity to- I just said this is why we needed a woman governor.

Mm-hmm.

Who to take better care of people than a woman?

Mm-hmm.

And a mother at that.

Mm-hmm.

That love that a mother has for a child- Mm-hmm ... and the way we pay attention to detail, and the way we care, the passion.

Mm-hmm.

Men, you guys are awesome.

I don't have anything against you all, but your attention to detail- ... it's not as It's not as good as women.

We are just- You had some bad experience?

No, no.

No, I'm just saying, women, we will- We have men that pay attention to details ... scrutinize everything.

Yes.

We're very meticulous.

Okay.

We like things a certain way.

We're organized, we plan.

Yeah.

Men just- Oh ... kind of like, "Yeah, okay, one is done."

But they turn to a woman.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I know Governor-elect Plaskett did make note that it goes past gender.

But hearing her speech as well too- Mm-hmm ... I want to give everyone an opportunity to briefly react to the remarks that she so eloquently made.

Neville?

I expected Delegate Plaskett to sound as powerful and forceful as she sounded.

Keep in mind- Mm-hmm ... in the aftermath of Donald Trump's second impeachment and conviction, they failed to convict him in the Senate, but a bright spot out of that proceeding was the brilliance- Ah, Stacey ... of Stacey Plaskett.

So I'm glad that she was consistent in that regard.

Mm-hmm.

I am a mama boy.

So I want Radiance to know, tonight is Iron Night.

You got it right.

Do whatever you want.

I ain't going to push back on that.

All right.

Woman detail is a special thing.

I done.

Andrian, briefly?

Well, I'm really excited for Stacey.

We're old friends.

She lived in my house for a whole year.

Wow.

And, I have the greatest admiration and respect for her.

I believe, from the talks that we had from the very beginning, that she has a plan, and she's worked out many, many details with the help of a lot of people- Mm-hmm ... in our community on all three islands.

Mm-hmm.

And I believe that she's ready to serve.

And Milton Potter was a star in the legislature.

Mm.

And I believe the lieutenant governor's office will look a lot better.

All right.

Awesome.

Lucy, I want to give you the opportunity to briefly make some comments before we take our next caller on the line.

I tried to the best of my ability to be brief.

I am like the other two panelists that spoke before me.

Mm-hmm.

I am not surprised.

I would only add to Andrian's commentary about being prepared with folks who are within the territory.

Mm-hmm.

She's also prepared with folks from outside of the territory- Yes ... to make sure that we get things done.

Mm-hmm.

So in that context- Mm-hmm ... I mentioned it to Radiance earlier, you fail to plan- You plan to fail ... you plan to fail, and she's have a plan- She has a plan ... for succession and to succeed.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Now, on the line with us, we have Senator-elect Nomi Williams-Jackson.

Good evening.

Evening.

Good evening.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

You have pursued the senatorial seat numerous times and now being successful, how does it feel that the voters of St.

Croix have given you this opportunity?

President.

I'm trying to, actually- I want to ask you to turn down whatever it is you have going on in the background.

It is in the background.

Okay.

I'm going to try to... It's successful.

Okay, go ahead.

No, we're hearing the background.

No, we're hearing background noise.

All right.

Can you hear us now?

Yes, I can.

Okay.

Now, I was saying you've ran for the seat numerous times.

Being successful this time, how does it feel that the voters of St.

Croix have given you this opportunity?

I'm excited about this opportunity to represent the people.

I truly believe that nothing happens before its time, and this is when I should be in the 37th legislature, making the necessary adjustment and change to better serve the community.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

And have a good evening.

Thank you.

Uh.

There you go.

Congratulations.

Yeah.

I going to say this, she is a reflection of perseverance because she first ran a while back, and to see her keep wanting to lead and wanting to serve, and the people finally saying, "Nomi, we're going with you," that means something.

So hopefully, all that hard work over the years, she takes that as inspiration to want to represent the people of the Virgin Islands, a particular groove place where she come from, because people find groove.

Ah, yeah.

I like to say, we're from Frederiksted, we find groove.

You know what I mean?

So, that's an awesome thing.

And Lansford is her uncle, right?

Yes.

So, Lansford, your niece, take care of her when she comes to town, as man.

Hey, Lansford.

How you doing?

All right.

Now, on the line, I believe we have Derrick Coward.

Good evening.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Hello, good evening.

Mr.

Coward?

Mm-hmm.

All right.

By the way, Lucy, I want you to know that- We've missed him ... that lead, I tell you, that was 800,000 again to 1.1 million now.

1.1 million.

Expound for the people, then we give an- The highest profile Senate race, US Senate race was in Texas this year- Texas ... and James Talarico, who defeated one of our home girls because she and Stacey are good, Jasmine Crockett- Yeah ... and Stacey Plaskett- Yeah ... have a real good relationship.

Yes.

And Talarico has parlayed that primary victory from March to apparently a victory.

He ain't call it yet, but it looking good.

You didn't happen to see the internet, no, no.

Mm-hmm.

Blowouts all over the place.

Place, yeah.

On the mainland.

Senate and House.

It's a Democrat- What about the gentleman for Florida?

The gubernatorial race- The gubernatorial ... is still going on The Republicans win, but they haven't called it yet.

Oh, okay.

But Byron Donalds, the Republican, is leading by about 90,000 votes.

Mm-hmm.

But they called the Senate race.

Mm-hmm.

So, Moody did defeat Dixon for the Senate race.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

But they got so many races all over the place.

If you see me and Adrian- Yeah.

... I'll be sharing phone, because we're watching the national race as well.

And one of the things that I wanted to add, because we did have incumbent Senator Collin Joseph call in, and I believe from the figures that we're looking at, she's just in seventh place by 186 votes.

Mm-hmm.

186, yeah.

And it is- That's not over the graph.

That's over somebody else now.

No, no.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

It is in front of Shanelle Robinson.

Shanelle Robinson and Francis, yes.

And there are 500 absentee ballots in that district, which can- Oh, that can make a difference ... you know, so- Mathematically Yeah.

Yeah ... something can happen.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, we do have another fresh face that will be projected to be in the legislature.

Ms.

Lisa Charles on the line.

Good evening, Ms.

Charles.

Good evening.

Congratulations.

How is it going?

Congratulations.

Yeah.

Hello.

Good evening ... Senator-elect Charles.

Good evening.

Hi.

Hi.

Oh, wow.

Getting through was very hard.

Well, you're here now.

My apologies, but you're here now.

That's it.

That's the point.

How are you feeling this evening, Ms.

Charles?

Everybody, at one point, I felt numb.

I still don't know.

I'm just going, "Ah."

She's not done.

I'm floating right about now- ... I'll be honest.

I'm overwhelmed, but overwhelmed with gratitude.

Man, I'm humbled, and I'm deeply honored that the confidence of the people of the Virgin Islands St.

Croix- Mm-hmm ... have in me.

I'm very honored.

And this journey was one of faith for me out of sacrifice, perseverance, and determination.

And I could never have done this without putting God first.

Yeah.

And putting God first.

I want to thank my incredible campaign team, which was very, very small.

And thank you for the hard work, the dedication, and the sacrifice you've all made.

And to my family, thank you for putting up with me, your unwavering love and support.

And to my sons, the big man, Todd- Aw ... and Xavier.

That's nice ... I may have forgotten them or didn't want to say thank you, but there was so much on the plate that I couldn't.

Mm-hmm.

But I want to publicly say thank you to my sons.

Aw.

He voted for me.

That's great.

He believed in me.

He pushed me.

I say the same thing about my son.

And to everyone who believed in me, as well as supported me, and cast their vote for me, I want to thank you.

And I'm not going to take this responsibility lightly.

Good.

I'm ready to do the work that's out there.

Good.

I'm ready to deliver meaningful results for the people of St.

Croix.

Yeah.

When I saw you at- And 432 ballots to the Senate floor.

Thank you.

All right.

All right.

Well- When I saw you at Bull and Bread, you were holding- D. Hamilton Jackson Day.

D. Hamilton Jackson Day.

My apologies.

Liberty Day.

At Liberty Day.

D. Hamilton Jackson Day- Legally D. Hamilton ... in Grove.

Everybody's dead.

You had a little something in your hands and someone in your hands, and you said that that was your lucky charm.

He's my lucky charm.

That's my grandson.

Your grandson?

Oh, okay.

Yes.

And I stopped her with the young baby.

I said, "Who's that boy you got in your hand?"

Well, she had her lucky charm in her hand.

Yeah.

And he- He was.

Going into getting ready to serve in this term, with all the challenges that we're facing right now, what's one priority that you're ready to help lead the charge on?

I am the human services, health, and our seniors first and foremost, and education as well.

So it's like a big plate where you don't know which one to start eating first, if you're going to eat the meat first or you're going to eat the carbs.

So it's a whole lot and it's to pick out which one you want to start with, and I'm probably going to try going with the one that I know that I've worked with so closely- Yep ... is with our seniors.

Senator elect Charles, I just want to ask you this question.

When you're on the floor- Sure ... will you be yanking up a storm like you're yanking or talking the local talk?

No, no, no.

Because you sound good.

I know it sounds like a cruise and I know it's me.

You sound good.

But I got that clear and run like a cruiser, and there going to be times when I'm going to be a little formal and- There we go ... slow down a little bit.

Congratulations, my senator.

And somebody pushed me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

So there's times where I'm going to be flipping and flopping.

Good.

I know my mother may have to call me and tell me to speak properly.

Congrats.

Congratulations.

You deserve it.

All right.

Congratulations.

Thank you guys so much.

Thank you guys so much.

I'm ready to start.

Awesome.

All righty.

I'm ready to start.

Go celebrate.

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

Have a good night.

Yeah.

Uh-huh.

I'm surprised they're all sober.

Anybody having champagne or something?

Are you sure that everyone that called in was sober?

Well, there are a couple that sounded like- No, but keep in mind, she's a Democrat, and she's probably waiting for the governor elect and the lieutenant governor elect to get over from St.

Thomas to St.

Croix.

Yes.

Yes, I'm going to that.

They'll get to that event.

I'm going to that party.

As we say, they going to mash up at that particular point.

Yes.

But I'm just glad for the first time, winners... And not like the first time, you know what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm.

You could hear it in their voice, but they walk away thing for them, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Wow.

So for me though, I think because you've been asking a very pertinent question with respect to what's the priorities, I think the government finances Should be the ultimate priority- Yes ... because you can't fix healthcare, you can't fix WAPA, you can't fix-- And I'm still waiting for Laram to say, "We need to get this recovery going so that we could benefit and generate some revenues"- Someone did say that ... gross receipts and all that stuff.

Delegate elect Janelle Sarow said that.

Janelle Sarow.

Yeah.

She said that we needed to get the recovery started.

There we go.

She was the very first and only one.

Well, actually, not started, just get it accelerated.

Get it accelerated.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Because it's been nine years since the storm.

I mean, it's ridiculous.

Really.

It's really ridiculous.

In some instances, Neville is started You're right for two.

There are certain projects, and I mean, it's bad.

It all depends on, you in St.

Thomas and John district have the WAPA issue.

Mm.

The St.

Croix issue is our issue is getting things started.

Started.

I agree.

Particularly with these monies that are sitting there.

I stand corrected.

You're absolutely correct.

And this strikes me as bizarre that we have money that we haven't spent.

Yes.

And that the governor has not informed us about the meeting that he had with FEMA- Yes ... where they told him there was money going back.

Before we continue this discussion, I do want to get Senator Amma Francis-Helliger on the line.

Oh.

Good evening, Senator Amma Francis-Helliger.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

How are you feeling this evening?

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Congratulations.

Good evening.

How are you all?

Congratulations, Senator.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Some hoarse.

Huh?

You sound hoarse.

Listen, I have been out for the last two weeks with the flu.

Oh.

Oh.

Well, we do- I literally have been bedridden for two weeks.

Ooh.

Oh, wow.

Well, we hope you're getting some good medicine with the results.

Well, listen, this campaign was done by my supporters.

It was done by the people.

They went out full force.

Literally, the first I got up out of my bed was yesterday.

I couldn't move.

This flu literally had me knocked out.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I want to ask you, Senator Francis-Helliger, I've asked this to some incumbents, some legislation that you may not get the opportunity to address before the end of this term that you plan to prioritize in the next term.

Can you speak briefly on what one of those priorities would be?

Well, I had several pieces of legislation that I was attempting to move through this term, and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

But, one of them is, I am not sure how far along we are with our constitutional conventions.

Mm-hmm.

But from last term, I've really been trying and pushing to get us to be able to elect our attorney general here in the territory.

Wide awake.

I know that was a fight of my last election, last term.

I still have the legislation I've been trying to maneuver through.

Even if I don't get it through, I'm hoping it's something that we could potentially see in our upcoming constitution.

If not, I will continue that fight.

Mm-hmm.

I think we need to start separating that office from any situation where someone could give directives on what to push, what criminal cases to either go after or not.

I think it should be 100% separated.

All right.

Well, Senator Francis-Helliger, we do thank you, and congratulations to you once again.

Thank you so much.

And again, thank you to all my supporters.

Thank you to everyone that went out and voted.

I am looking forward to working with this incoming administration, several of the new individuals that got elected, as well as previous incumbents, and hopefully we could help push this territory forward.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations, Senator.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

We're very happy for you.

Now, Adrienne, I wanted to give you the opportunity to finish a point that you were making before we went to Senator Francis-Helliger.

Oh, God.

Oh, point You were dissatisfied with the idea of- Oh, yes, the federal- ... electing an attorney general.

Yeah.

Well, I don't like the idea of electing an attorney general.

I think the attorney general is part of the governor's cabinet, and is there to enforce the laws, make sure that the legislation passed by the legislature and signed by the governor is actually implemented, and makes very, very important decisions about whether or not the government is going to move one way or another in a legal case.

Yeah.

And to elect an attorney general, I think opens the door to having crazy lawyers.

Mm.

Because the people who are maybe not having the world's best living, deciding, "Oh, well, I'll run for this job.

This will be fun, and I'll make so many friends.

I'll be successful when I'm done."

And that's not to cast aspersions on all of the lawyers, because I know almost everybody, and everybody's really good, but you never know.

We now have over 1,000 members of the bar because a lot of people from the States have come in, taken the bar, and gone back to their offices in the States thinking, "Well, I'll get a winter home down there or something."

Yeah.

Okay.

Which is really unfortunate.

But the other thing that I'm really worried about, and I'm surprised I haven't heard anybody except Janelle talk about it, is the federal funds.

I mean, we subsist on these funds.

We lost two major taxpayers from St.

John who are PO because they couldn't get any progress in the projects they wanted, and so they just moved out.

Yeah.

And that was millions of dollars in revenue.

Yeah.

Those kinds of things should make us sit up and take notice and say, "What are we doing wrong?"

All right.

Now, I want to go to our results that we did from our poll earlier.

But before we go to that- Mm-hmm ... I want to go to a portion of the top vote getter in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, Imani Daniel- Imani Daniel ... and her victory speech- Oh, good ... that we were able to get video of just moments ago.

Great.

So I want to go to that right now.

Um, I am not going to take a lot of time.

Honestly, I don't even know what to say that hasn't been said.

Um, this was without a doubt a collective effort.

Everybody who wore their T-shirt, who donated, who gave us time, who did the last top 10, who answered Griffin's calls.

Um, you all did the 100%.

Um, I am so proud of you too.

I'm so proud of Nadia and Raven and Raquel, wherever he is as well.

Um, wow.

This is unbelievable.

I am too.

I'm incredibly happy for her.

I am shocked.

I am shocked.

She did some really great work- She did some great work ... with the recovery team and so forth.

She did So I'm happy for her.

I look forward to seeing what she does.

Yes.

Me too.

The future is bright, man.

The future is now, and we got to support them.

We got some good people.

The learning curve is steep.

Mm-hmm.

When I first got in- Yeah ... I was with Usi, right?

Who had a good feel for parliamentary procedure.

No, I'm talking serious now.

No, seriously.

Okay.

Well, yeah.

I've been joking and taking shots at him all night, but in this case, it's a compliment.

He and John Abrahamson and a group of Crucians who had a full understanding of parliamentary procedure.

And as a freshman, you're going in there and I'm sitting, I'm just watching and learning.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm just like a lot of other senators, freshman senators who go in there, and you got to learn parliamentary procedure.

It ain't just about- Mm-hmm ... what you know from your professional life.

When the motions are made and all that stuff, you don't want to get lost.

You have to do in parliament.

So I hope that orientation is embraced fully by the freshman senators.

We got six.

I think they will.

And they could hit the ground running because we ain't really got time for on the job learning right about now.

You know what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So, and I think they can handle it.

I got confidence in them.

My goodness.

Right.

I wanted to add something to what- One, two, three ... Agent was saying.

Four, five And it was also previously said by Radiance to an inquiry that you made in regards to recovery projects.

That we should be mindful, because this is not a forum at which candidates will be provided an opportunity to belt out and to state all the things because they, in essence, were responding to a question from a host and our moderator tonight, Marcelina.

And so for us to make a blanket statement, well, don't anybody talk about federal projects or funding was- That's true ... delegates.

That is misleading.

You're right.

Yes.

That's very true And it doesn't sit well, at least with me.

I appreciate that.

And people who are listening may have the impression, like somebody text me and said, "Well, none of the senators didn't talk about crime."

Mm-hmm.

Well- So, you know what I mean?

It doesn't rise to the first thing- No, someone spoke about crime ... someone mentioned it No, I'm just saying- Oh, all of them ... I got a text that leaves the impression that the candidates are calling in to express their thanks and gratitude- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm ... to spend some time on the answer Marcelina- Mm-hmm ... to talk about- Ev- everything ... crime.

Yes.

Okay.

You know?

They will.

They'll get their chance.

Earlier, we asked our viewers what they think should be the governor's top priority, and this is how you all responded.

Let's see what the viewers say.

Let's see what they said.

WAPA and electricity, 39%.

Mm-hmm.

Growing the economy, 5%.

Oh.

Cost of living, 9%.

Wow.

Healthcare and hospitals, 36%.

Mm-hmm.

Education and public schools, 4%.

Wow.

Crime and public safety, 6%.

And roads and infrastructure, 1%.

That's a problem.

Yeah, that's an issue 1%?

That's a problem.

That's an issue.

No, that's 6% for crime and public safety.

Yeah.

That's the problem.

Mm-hmm.

That's a problem.

I don't think that's right.

Because I remember asking Imani Daniel a question.

She gave arguably the best answer of all of the candidates.

I said, "Um, do we have a crime problem in the Virgin Islands?

A public safety problem?"

And she said, "Not only do we have a public safety problem, that is creating a public health problem because it's putting stress on the hospitals, and we are struggling as it is right now at our hospitals."

So when you look at that, right?

Three quarters of the responses are combined between WAPA and healthcare, and that makes sense.

But crime and public safety got to be up there.

I mean, all of them important, don't get me wrong.

But I would think crime and public safety given 46 is the number for this year.

Wow.

Things we can do something about.

The cost of living, I don't think there's a whole lot we can do, but those are issues.

Crime- Yeah, crime- ... is an issue we can address ... we got to deal with crime.

Crime is the-- I mean, with 46 homicides in the territory so far, the majority of them being on St.

Croix, public safety and crime is definitely an issue.

But to what Neville said, that Imani Daniel said that it's creating a healthcare issue as well too.

Not only just in the hospitals, a mental health issue as well too.

Mental health issue.

Yes.

It's a mental health issue as well too.

And I got corrected, Senator Novelle Francis just corrected me.

We actually got seven new senators because we got a large senator as well.

We do have- Right.

That's right ... exact-- Yes, that's correct We have almost flipped half the legislature.

That's amazing.

Amazing.

That's amazing.

Amazing.

It's definitely exciting to see what the 37th legislative body is going to produce and just- Mm-hmm You know what's going to happen?

I hope that they can come together and be a coherent working group, and you don't have people spinning off with their own agendas.

That's all.

You really need to corral the crowd, particularly the new senators.

They're all articulate, and they have great ideas, but did they know how to play well with others?

We're going to find out soon.

I find out-- I think with any new group of people, there definitely will be some growing pains.

Mm-hmm.

It's how quickly they'll get over those growing pains to actually be productive as a collective body.

Yes.

And I got a text message.

Ucie, I know you're going to like this one from Tommy Thomas.

Oh, hi, Tommy.

He said Imani Daniel's great uncle was former senator Percival Reese.

Really?

And they say politics is in the blood.

Isn't that something?

Yeah.

So it's a third generation.

I remember him.

So that's good.

Now, before we close, I do want to get your final thoughts on tonight's election.

I want to ask you all what stood out to each of you.

Radiance, I want to begin with you.

I just have to say the shakeup.

People came out, they did what they were supposed to do.

They voiced how they feel, how they felt, and so you saw it in the results.

Mm-hmm.

I'm just like Neville, I'm disappointed in the number of people that came out to vote.

I'm accustomed to seeing astronomical numbers- Mm-hmm ... when election time rolls around, but the numbers are disappointing, and I hope that with the new persons on the board elections, we can encourage- Mm-hmm ... do something to bring more young people to apply to vote, because when I made 18, that was the very first thing I did- Yeah ... was register to vote.

Mm-hmm.

But I'm happy to be here.

It was an awesome experience.

This is definitely going down in history.

I've followed elections over the course of my life, and even though this one was not nail-biting, it was definitely a pivotal, really life- Mm-hmm ... life-making situation.

Yeah.

Adrienne?

Well, first of all, I've done this a few times with this gentleman, for sure.

I think it's the first time I've done it with Neville.

Yeah.

It was fun.

It was fun, and I was able to smile and feel happy a lot, which is new and exciting.

The fact that so many new people were elected, as Radiance pointed out, makes this very, well, a way to look for greater progress.

Because the issues are so many and so deep, and deeply entrenched.

And then we have to change a lot of minds about the way things are going to be done.

And I think Stacey is going to lead the pack and provide a great deal of leadership and vision for us.

But she's got to work with those 15 senators, and they have to work with her, and Milton, of course.

I'm really looking forward to the lieutenant governor's office.

All right.

Neville?

I just want to thank all of you.

Mm-hmm.

I had a great time tonight.

Marcelina, for your leadership on working with- Mm-hmm ... Ucie once again.

We served together for eight years.

And of course, meeting Radiance for the first time is awesome.

You know what I'm saying?

I appreciate that.

Of course, Counselor, and I wish I was a lawyer, you know what I'm saying?

Aw.

So when I sit next to lawyers moving.

But I just want to thank the people of the Virgin Islands for coming out- Mm-hmm ... exercising their inalienable right to vote.

Mm-hmm.

And I want to wish all of the candidates, successful or not, all the best.

Mm-hmm.

We live here.

We're committed to make for a better Virgin Islands.

This is paradise, and we got to do what we got to do.

And also don't forget, tune in to "Analyze This" every Friday weekdays, 8:00 AM- 8:00 AM ... to 10:00 AM, and of course, the morning after, tomorrow, we're going to have a great show.

Oh, yes.

So be there.

That one should be fun.

Thank you very much for inviting me and being here tonight.

All right.

Ucie?

Well, pleasant good evening to our viewers that have stayed with us from the inception.

We want to thank you, Marcelina, and the panelists for giving me an opportunity to join you.

The one thing that stood out to me is we, and when I said we, those of us on the island of St.

Croix, have been accused of being the only district that sometimes kick out senators in high numbers.

At least this evening we've been able to share with the district of St.

Thomas, St.

John, an opportunity to exercise that sort of responsibility.

Yes.

Because it's very rare.

It's very rare- It's rare ... in St.

Thomas, St.

John, that if you have seven incumbents, that- Still get elected ... you'll find one or two that would lose- Mm-hmm ... in a general election, and here it is.

Although there was only one vacancy in the St.

Thomas, St.

John district, we have- New senators ... three new senators.

Correct.

Mm-hmm.

And if by the chance of still exists that with absentee ballots, it could turn to four.

Turned four.

Mm-hmm.

And in St.

Croix, we had two vacancies.

Is it two?

Two vacancies.

Yes.

Three new senators.

Three new senators.

Yeah.

And so really, not much of a- Lobby ... of a kicking up.

All right.

And thank you, Marcelina, for allowing me to be here.

Oh, great job.

Yes, thank you so much.

Great job.

Thank you all.

Great job.

And thank you all for your time and thoughtful insights this evening.

It's been a pleasure having you here.

To our viewers across the Virgin Islands and abroad, thank you for staying with us this evening and for your continued support.

Up next on television, we will join the PBS News Hour, and on radio, we'll join NPR's live coverage of the midterm elections already in progress.

On behalf of our panelists, Ucie Richards, Neville James, Adrienne Dudley, Shari Radiance Richard-Meads, and all of us here at WTJX, I'm Marcelina Ventura Douglas, take care.