Delegate to Congress Stacey E. Plaskett and Senate President Milton E. Potter won Saturday’s Democratic primary for governor and lieutenant governor, advancing the ticket to the November general election.Unofficial territorywide results showed Plaskett and Potter receiving 4,493 votes, or 46.99 percent of votes cast in the gubernatorial contest. Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach and Senator Novelle Francis Jr. finished second with 3,054 votes, while Donna Frett-Gregory and Rodney Moorehead received 1,975. Thirty-nine write-in votes were recorded.
The winning ticket finished 1,439 votes ahead of Roach and Francis, a margin of roughly 15 percentage points.
Plaskett and Potter’s victory was built largely on their strong showing in St. Croix. They received 2,720 votes there, compared with 1,237 for Roach and Francis and 796 for Frett-Gregory and Moorehead.
The results were much closer in the St. Thomas-St. John District, where Roach and Francis received 1,817 votes and narrowly defeated Plaskett and Potter, who received 1,773—a difference of only 44 votes. Frett-Gregory and Moorehead received 1,179 votes in that district. Territorywide turnout reached 47.75 percent, with 9,991 ballots cast. Of those, 9,561 included a vote in the governor and lieutenant governor contest. The results remain unofficial pending certification. Facebook live coverage from the V.I. Consortium showed Plaskett and Potter addressing supporters following the victory, with appearances in both St. Croix and St. Thomas. In post-election interviews, the candidates focused on uniting Democratic voters and preparing for the broader general-election campaign. The primary campaign centered heavily on WAPA, healthcare, unfinished disaster-recovery projects, education, housing, crime, corruption and the territory’s high cost of living. Plaskett and Potter argued that stronger coordination between the federal government and territorial agencies was needed to turn available funding into completed projects and visible improvements. The Democratic ticket will now move on to the November 3 general election, where it will face independent candidates and voters outside the Democratic primary electorate. A victory in November would make Plaskett the first woman elected governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands.