The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized 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 to the east of Puerto Rico and west of the British Virgin Islands.
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 "Virgin Islands March" is the regional anthem of the United States Virgin Islands. The song was composed by Sam Williams and U.S. Virgin Island native Alton Adams in the 1920s. It served as an unofficial regional anthem of the U.S. Virgin Islands until 1963, when it was officially recognized by Legislative Act.
Elections in the U.S. Virgin Islands are held to elect senators to the Legislature of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the governor and lieutenant governor of the territory, and a delegate to the United States House of Representatives.
The Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands is a political party in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and is affiliated with the Democratic Party at the nationwide level. It won the gubernatorial elections of 2018 when its candidate Albert Bryan was elected with 54.5%. At the last elections in November 2018, the party won 13 out of 15 seats in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. Out of 51,000 registered voters in the U.S. Virgin Islands, approximately 30,000 voters are registered Democrats.
The Republican Party in the Virgin Islands is a political party in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and is affiliated with the Republican Party at the national level.
The House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands, until 2007 known as the Legislative Council, has 15 members: 13 directly elected for four-year terms, and two ex officio members.
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 District Court of the Virgin Islands is a United States territorial court with jurisdiction over federal and diversity actions in the United States Virgin Islands, a United States territory and more specifically an insular area that is an unincorporated organized territory. The court sits in both St. Croix and St. Thomas. Unlike United States district courts, judges on the District Court of the Virgin Islands do not have life tenure, as the court is not an Article III court. Instead, the court is an Article IV court, created pursuant to Congress's Article IV, Section 3 powers. Judges serve for terms of ten years at a time, and until a successor is chosen and qualified. Appeals of the court's decisions are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia.
The law of the British Virgin Islands is a combination of common law and statute, and is based heavily upon English law.
The United States Virgin Islands general election was held on November 2, 2010. Voters chose the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, the non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives and all fifteen seats in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. The election coincided with the 2010 United States general election.
The United States Virgin Islands general election was held on 6 November 2012. Voters chose the non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives, the Board of Education, the Board of Elections, and all fifteen seats in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands.
The Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands is a United States federal law that repealed and replaced the previous Organic Act of the Virgin Islands. It was passed on July 22, 1954 by the U.S. Congress to act as the basis for law in the United States Virgin Islands. Like other organic acts it functions as a constitution for a territory of the United States.
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, and also provides explicit legal protections against discrimination for LGBT 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.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the United States Virgin Islands since July 9, 2015, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, legalizing same-sex marriage in the U.S. Virgin Islands. On June 30, Governor Kenneth Mapp said the territorial government would comply with the ruling, and on July 9 he signed an executive order that requires the government to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. The first marriage licenses were granted on July 21, 2015, after the first same-sex couples to apply for licenses did so on July 13, beginning the 8-day waiting period between applying for and receiving marriage licenses.
The United States Virgin Islands general election was held on 4 November 2014. Voters chose the non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives, all fifteen seats in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, and the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands.
Cannabis in the United States Virgin Islands is legal for recreational use since January 18, 2023. 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.
The United States Virgin Islands general election was held on November 8, 2016. Voters chose the delegate to the United States House of Representatives and all fifteen seats in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands.
Tregenza A. Roach is a Kittitian-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.
