Keli Tenorio welcomes CEC certification; Taisacan says voters will decide NI mayor race

CNMI Republican Party candidate Keli Tenorio welcomed the Commonwealth Election Commission’s 4-1 vote to certify her candidacy for Northern Islands mayor in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election, saying the decision allows the Northern Islands community to move forward.

“God is good always. I knew we would. Truth prevails,” Tenorio said in an interview after the CEC vote on Aug. 28. “My people are going to be happy. We can move forward now and we can go back home.”

Northern Islands Mayor Valentino Taisacan, meanwhile, accepted the commission’s decision and said voters will ultimately have their say in the mayoral race.

“Well, you know, the board already made that decision. Whenever we have questions, that is why we have a board to answer those. So that's the decision from the board. We'll take it,” Taisacan said in an interview following the ballot-placement drawing last Aug. 29.

Taisacan also wished Tenorio well as the two head into the general election.

“It's election season. I just want to wish my opponent good luck. And you know, we'll see what the people have to say,” he said.

During the Aug. 29 ballot-placement drawing, Tenorio drew the No. 1 position on the ballot for Northern Islands mayor, while Taisacan drew No. 2.

The drawing came a day after the CEC voted 4-1 to certify Tenorio following additional questioning over whether she satisfied the residency and domicile requirements for the Northern Islands mayoral post.

During the Aug. 28 hearing, Tenorio testified that she currently stays on Mount Tapochau when on Saipan but considers Pagan her home. She said she spent much of her time in the Northern Islands aboard the MV Super Emerald and is registered to vote on Pagan.

Asked whether she intended to return to the Northern Islands, Tenorio replied, “I'm going back.” She said she had been away for about a year while caring for her husband.

CEC board member Elsie Tilipao-Rubuenog cast the lone dissenting vote, saying she remained unconvinced that Tenorio satisfied the domicile and residency criteria.

“I'm still not satisfied that Ms. Kelly here met the criteria under domiciliary, right?” Tilipao-Rubuenog said.

She cited an Office of the Attorney General legal opinion defining residence as including a fixed habitation and questioned whether Tenorio’s testimony that she stays in a tent while on Pagan satisfied that requirement.

“If Ms. Tenorio here states that Pagan is her domicile and also her residence, and she testified that every time she goes there, she lives in a tent, I don't think that satisfies the fixed habitation requirement under residency and also domiciliary,” Tilipao-Rubuenog said.

The majority, however, voted to certify Tenorio.

One commissioner said that “after considering all the questions asked, answers and testimony provided, and the evidence presented, my vote is yes,” while the vice chair also voted in favor.

CEC chair Jose P. Kiyoshi focused on Tenorio’s stated intention to return to the Northern Islands in explaining his vote for certification.

“Do you have intent to go back to Northern Islands? Her answer was yes,” Kiyoshi said. “She has an intent to go back to Northern Islands. So my answer is my vote is yes.”

Following the 4-1 vote, the commission informed Tenorio that she would be certified as a qualified candidate for Northern Islands mayor.

Tenorio then reiterated her connection to Pagan and invited commissioners to visit the island.

“I love those families and I've helped those families and I will continue until God takes me away,” she said. “I will be buried on the island. I am going to be buried on the island. That is where my home is.”

The CEC decision sets up a two-way race between Tenorio and Taisacan for Northern Islands mayor in the Nov. 3 general elections.