Political party strength in the Northern Mariana Islands

The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the United States insular area of the Northern Mariana Islands:

• Governor
• Lieutenant Governor
• Attorney General (first elected in 2014).
• Resident Representative in Washington, D.C. (through 2008); non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives (beginning 2009)

The table also indicates the historical party composition in the:

• Territorial Senate
• Territorial House of Representatives

The parties are as follows:    Covenant (C),    Democratic (D),    Independent (I),    Republican/Territorial (R)/(T),    Reform (Ref), Vacant (V), and   a tie or coalition within a group of elected officials.

Year	Executive offices			Commonwealth Legislature		U.S. House
	Governor	Lieutenant Governor	Attorney General	Senate	House
1978	Carlos Camacho (D)	Francisco Ada (D)	appointed	5T, [a] 4D	8T, [a] 6D	Edward Pangelinan (D)
1979
1980				T [a] majority	D majority
1981
1982	Pedro Tenorio (R)	Pedro Agulto Tenorio (R)		R majority	R majority
1983						Edward Pangelinan (R)
1984				R majority	D majority	Froilan Tenorio (D)
1985
1986				[ ? ]	R majority
1987
1988				R majority	D majority
1989
1990	Lorenzo I. De Leon Guerrero (R)	Benjamin Manglona (R)		D majority	R majority	Juan Babauta (R)
1991
1992				R majority	10R, 6D, 2I [1]
1993
1994	Froilan Tenorio (D)	Jesus Borja (D)		R majority	R majority
1995
1996				R majority	R majority
1997
1998	Pedro Tenorio (R)	Jesus Sablan (R)		8R, 1D	13R, 5D
1999
2000				6R, 2D, 1Ref	11R, 6D, 1I
2001
2002	Juan Babauta (R)	Diego Benavente (R)		5R, 3D, 1C [b]	16R, 1D, 1C	Pedro Agulto Tenorio (R)
2003
2004				3C, 2D, 2R, 2I	9C, 7R, 1D, 1I
2005
2006	Benigno Fitial (C)	Timothy Villagomez (C) [c]		3C, 3R, 2D, 1I [d]	7C, 7R, 2D, 2I
2007
2008					12R, 4C, 3I, 1D
2009		Eloy Inos (C) [e]				Gregorio Sablan (I)
2010				5R, 4I	9R, 7C, 4I
2011	Benigno Fitial (R) [f] [g]
2012
2013	Eloy Inos (C) [h]	Jude Hofschneider (R) [e]		5R, 4I	12I, 4R, 4C
2014	Eloy Inos (R) [i] [j]			5R, 3I, 1V [k]
2015		Ralph Torres (R)	Edward Manibusan (NP) [l]	7R, 2I	13I, 7R
2016	Ralph Torres (R) [m]	Victor Hocog (R)		6R, 3I
2017				7R, 2I	15R, 5I
2018
2019		Arnold Palacios (R)		6R, 3I	13R, 7I
2020
2021				5R, 3I, 1D	9R, 8D, 2ID, 1IR [n]
2022		Arnold Palacios (I) [o]
2023	Arnold Palacios (I)	David M. Apatang (I)		4R, 3I, 2D [p]	13I, 4D, 3R [q]	Gregorio Sablan (D) [l]
2024
2025	Arnold Palacios (R) [o] [j]				16I, 2D, 2R [q]	Kimberlyn King-Hinds (R) [l]
	David M. Apatang (I) [m]	Dennis C. Mendiola (R) [h]

Notes

1. Territorial Party (T) is the predecessor of the CNMI Republican Party.
2. Reform dissolved and merged into the Democratic Party, announced June 2002
3. Resigned 26 April 2009.
4. The majority coalition consisted of senators from the Covenant Party, the Democratic Party, and the independent.
5. Nominated by Governor and confirmed by Senate to fill vacancy.
6. Fitial founded the Covenant Party in 2001 after leaving the Republican Party. He rejoined the Republican Party on January 5, 2011, announcing that his goal will be to merger the Covenant Party back into the Republican Party. ^[2]
7. Resigned 20 February 2013.
8. Succeeded to office upon the resignation of his predecessor.
9. Inos left the Covenant Party in September 2013 and joined the Republican party.
10. Died in office.
11. Ray Naraja Yumul resigned to run with Juan Nekai Babauta as his lieutenant governor in the 2014 Northern Mariana Islands general election
12. This office is elected on a nonpartisan basis, but the officeholder publicly identifies with a political party.
13. Succeeded to the office upon the death of his predecessor.
14. Edmund Villagomez, a Democratic-aligned Independent, was elected Speaker and leads the majority caucus.
15. In November of 2021, Palacios announced he would challenge his running mate Ralph Torres in the 2022 election as an Independent. ^[3] Palacios switched his party affiliation back to the Republican Party in December 2024, while in office. ^[4]
16. From 2023–2024, all three Independents joined the Democrats to form the governing coalition. From 2025–present, all three Independents joined the Republicans to form the governing coalition.
17. Twelve Independents joined the Democrats to form the governing coalition.

References

1. Arroyo, Rafael H. (5 Nov 1991). "Republicans rule 1991 polls" (PDF). Marianas Variety. p. 1. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
2. Eugenio, Haidee V. (January 8, 2011). "Fitial now back to Republican Party, Governor's end goal to merge Covenant with GOP". Saipan Tribune . Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
3. Erediano, Emmanuel T. (2021-10-22). "Palacios, Apatang vow to rebuild trust in government". Marianas Variety News & Views. Garapan, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
4. "Republican National Committee welcomes Governor-elect Pulaalii Nikolao Pula and Governor Arnold Palacios to the Republican Party - KUAM.com- KUAM News: On Air. Online. On Demand". Archived from the original on 2024-12-24. Retrieved 2025-08-25.

See also

• Politics of the Northern Mariana Islands
• Elections in the Northern Mariana Islands
• List of political parties in the Northern Mariana Islands