The United States Virgin Islands,officially the Virgin Islands of the United States,are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. The islands have a tropical climate.
Politics of the United States Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic dependency,whereby the governor is the head of the territory's government,and of a multi-party system. United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States,administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior. Executive power is exercised by the local government of the Virgin Islands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Legislature of the Virgin Islands is the territorial legislature of the United States Virgin Islands. The legislative branch of the unincorporated U.S. territory is unicameral,with a single house consisting of 15 senators,elected to two-year terms without term limits. The legislature meets in Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas.
The 2010 U.S. Virgin Islands gubernatorial election was held on November 2,2010,and won by incumbent Democratic Governor John de Jongh. De Jongh was elected to his first term in 2006 with 56% of the vote over Kenneth Mapp.
Gerard Luz Amwur James II is an American Virgin Islander politician,funeral director,and businessman. James served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 1999 until 2003 and was the president of Fifth Constitutional Convention of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
James "Jimmy" O'Bryan Jr. is a United States Virgin Islander politician,spokesman and former press secretary. He was previously the administrator of the island of Saint Thomas,U.S. Virgin Islands.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands,Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights have evolved substantially in recent years. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1985. The region also provides explicit legal protections against discrimination for LGBTQ residents since December 2022. Following the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015,which found the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples unconstitutional,same-sex marriage became legal in the islands.
Cannabis in the United States Virgin Islands is legal for recreational use since January 18,2023,under territorial law. Legislation to legalize was passed by the territorial legislature in 2022,and was signed into law on January 18. Medical use was legalized in 2019 through a bill that passed the Senate 9–4. It remains illegal under federal law.
Ruby M. Rouss was an American citizen born on Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands. Her career was marked by a series of firsts. She was the first Virgin Islander in the Women's Army Corps (WAC),first African-American woman to serve on General Eisenhower’s staff,and first black woman assigned as a permanent staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. After a 20-year military career,she retired from service and became the first woman parole officer in St. Croix. In 1973,she was elected as one of the first women to serve in the Virgin Island's legislature. In 1981,Rouss served as the first female President of the Virgin Islands Legislature,becoming the first black woman to lead a legislature in the United States. She was elected to serve a second presidency of the Senate in 1987 and died the following year. Posthumously,she was inducted into the Virgin Island's Women's Hall of Fame and a housing project in St. Croix was renamed in her honor.
Albert Bryan Jr. is an Virgin Islander politician serving since 2019 as the ninth governor of the United States Virgin Islands.
Tregenza A. Roach is an American politician,attorney,and former journalist. Since 2019,Roach has been serving as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. Roach previously was a senator at the Legislature of the Virgin Islands from 2013 to 2019.
Lorraine Berry was a 12-term senator and 2-term Senate President of the United States Virgin Islands Legislature of the Virgin Islands.
Robert Anthony Molloy is the Chief United States district judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands and former judge of the United States Virgin Islands Superior Court.
Kurt Anthony Vialet is a Virgin Islander politician and former educator who served as a senator in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands from the St. Croix District from 2015 to 2023. He ran as an independent candidate for Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 2022 election.
Janelle K. Sarauw is a Virgin Islander politician and former educator who served as senator in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands from the St. Thomas-St. John District,from 2017 to 2023. Sarauw ran for Lieutenant Governor in the 2022 election.
The 34th Virgin Islands Legislature was a meeting of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. It convened in Charlotte Amalie on January 11,2021,during the third year of Albert Bryan’s governorship and ended on January 9,2023.
The 35th Virgin Islands Legislature is the current meeting of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. It convened in Charlotte Amalie on January 9,2023,during the first two years of Governor Albert Bryan’s second term.
The 2024 United States Virgin Islands general election will take place on Tuesday,November 5,2024,to elect the non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives,all 15 seats in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands,members of the Virgin Islands Board of Elections,Board of Education,and the 15 delegates to the Sixth Constitutional Convention.
Kenneth "Kenny" Gittens is a United States Virgin Islands politician and the Majority leader of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. He was a member of the 30th Virgin Islands Legislature,31st Virgin Islands Legislature,33rd Virgin Islands Legislature,34th Virgin Islands Legislature,35th Virgin Islands Legislature,and is running in the 2024 United States Virgin Islands general election.
Marise Cecile James is a United States Virgin Islands politician and senator serving in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands from the Saint Croix District,since 2023.
