‘Long road ahead of us’: Republican Tony Ada wins Guam governor’s race, GOP keeps legislative majority

Republican Vice Speaker Tony Ada won Guam's race for governor and his party held on to its majority in the Legislature, but Democrats picked up the island's seat in Congress, according to unofficial results of Tuesday’s vote.

Ada and his running mate, EJ Calvo, beat Democrat Sens. Therese Terlaje and Sabina Perez by 1,020 votes.

Terlaje told supporters she had called Ada to concede.

Ada and Calvo will take office as Guam faces soaring gas and food prices, a military buildup that includes a 360-degree missile defense system, concerns over deep-sea mining and a slowly recovering tourism industry.

“We have a long road ahead of us, but when we all come together, we unify together where it makes the job that much easier,” Ada, 59, told a crowd of supporters after all 59 precincts were counted.

President Donald Trump congratulated Ada on winning the governor's race and said he hoped the Republican win on Guam signals things to come in the U.S. midterm elections.

"Guam, which has always been considered strongly Democrat, just had an early call for a REPUBLICAN Victory in the top spot, Governor — Congratulations to Tony Ada! Also, the Republicans have the Majority in the State Senate. Wow, hopefully that's an indication for things to come!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Guam has a 15-member Legislature, not a state senate, and Republicans held their majority going into the election. The island has also elected Republican governors before, including Felix Camacho and Eddie Calvo, who held office from 2003 to 2019.

The next Guam Legislature will have eight Republicans and seven Democrats.

Ron McNinch, associate professor of public administration at the University of Guam, said a Republican governor working with a Republican-majority Legislature will be a test.

"We'll see how that works out because we haven't had a legislature ever really cooperate with the governor with a mutual set of goals," he told the Marianas Press.

Record low voter turnout

Turnout was 53.11%, the lowest in any governor's race in Guam Election Commission records, which date to 1950. The previous low was 56% in 2022.

Only 31,414 of the 59,146 registered voters cast a ballot, according to the unofficial tally from the Guam Election Commission.

McNinch said Guam used to have a robust voter turnout compared with the rest of the United States.

Nationally, turnout hovers around 60% in presidential elections and 40% in midterm elections, according to fairvote.org. Guam's voter turnout was 67% to 88% in gubernatorial elections from 1970 to 2018 and 69% to 92% in non-gubernatorial general elections from 1950 to 2016.

McNinch said what's "interesting" is that while many of Guam's young people may register to vote or are active on social media, "posting something on social media is not the same as voting."

"And voting is an actual deliberate act you have to do generally in person and many young people simply don’t do it," McNinch told the Marianas Press.

McNinch, who conducted exit polls Tuesday, said "there’s a lot of infirm people who have difficulty going to the polls and it’s very, very sad to watch them."

"They struggle to make it to vote," he said, adding that some of them may not have realized there are services for voters with disabilities, including curbside voting, in which Guam Election Commission staff come to voters so they don't need to get out of their vehicles.

Democrat heads to Congress

Democrat Alicia Limtiaco, an attorney, unseated Republican Del. James Moylan by 662 votes to become Guam's nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Limtiaco is a former attorney general of Guam and served as U.S. attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

In 2022, Moylan became the first Republican Guam had sent to Congress in nearly 30 years. He was reelected in 2024.

Attorney Phil Tydingco also unseated Attorney General Douglas Moylan, winning by 1,575 votes in the five-way race.

Here's the unofficial tally from the Guam Election Commission:

Governor and lieutenant governor

* Republican Ada-Calvo: 15,945 or 51.45%

* Democrat Terlaje-Perez: 14,925 or 48.15%

Delegate to Congress

* Democrat Alicia Limtiaco: 15,645 or 51%

* Republican Del. James Moylan: 14,983 or 48.84%

Attorney General

* Atty. Phil Tydingco: 11,583

* Attorney General Douglas Moylan: 10,008

* Atty. Thomas Fisher: 3,842

* Atty. Pete Santos: 3,353

* Atty. Jordan Pauluhn: 1,448

Guam Legislature

1. Democrat Sen. Chris Barnett: 19,783

2. Democrat Amanda Shelton: 15,835

3. Republican Sen. Sabrina Salas-Matanane: 14,220

4. Republican Sen. Jesse Lujan: 13,917

5. Republican Sen. Chris Duenas: 13,746

6. Democrat Telena Nelson: 13,488

7. Republican Sen. Telo Taitague: 13,330

8. Republican Dr. Hoa Nguyen: 13,329

9. Democrat Sen. William Parkinson: 13,120

10. Democrat Donna Muna Quinata: 12,670

11. Democrat Clynt Ridgell: 12,595

12. Republican Sen. Vince Borja: 12,235

13. Republican Sen. Shelly Calvo: 11,428

14. Democrat Kallen Perez: 11,203

15. Republican Sen. Shawn Gumataotao: 11,031

16. Republican Wil Castro: 10,884

17. Democrat Angel Sablan: 10,764

18. Republican Jonathan Savares: 10,497

19. Republican Louisa Borja: 10,458

20. Democrat Roy Quinata: 10,407

21. Republican Raffaele Sgambelluri: 10,398

22. Democrat Fred Bordallo Jr.: 9,534

23. Democrat Sarah Thomas Nededog: 9,502

24. Democrat Joaquin Cruz: 9,393

25. Democrat Angela Santos: 9,024

26. Democrat Anthony Taijeron: 9,012

27. Democrat Joaquin Taitague: 8,100

28. Republican Gregorio Calvo: 7,194

29. Republican Matteo Mortera: 7,045

30. Republican Joseph B.D. Arriola: 5,326