The fresh faces voters wanted
Voters have signalled a clear and unmistakable yearning for change in the territory’s governance following the general elections and the strongest indication of this appears to be the emergence of four new lawmakers elected from across the spectrum to serve in the next House of Assembly (HOA).
Newcomers to the HOA include Dr Karl Dawson and Luce Hodge-Smith, both of the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP), Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather of the Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM), and Lorna Smith who won as a National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate but hours later formed an alliance with the VIP to become Deputy Premier.
Dr Dawson, who served for years as the President of the H Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) managed a convincing win over his two opponents, while Hodge-Smith, a former Director of Culture, managed to eke out a close victory for the hotly contested Fourth District seat.
Mather, for his part, has been a youth mentor and advocate for more than a decade and is particularly known for his work as Director of the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP). While on the campaign trail, Mather promised to continue his advocacy for youth development and education, declaring that residents can expect results with his out-of-the-box thinking once he became elected. Mather won the most votes of all the Territorial At-Large candidates at this year’s election.
Lorna Smith is no stranger to the political scene, as she was First Lady for 12 years. During her campaign, she placed particular emphasis on her wealth of experience in government, which she achieved despite never serving as a lawmaker. She also established herself as a veteran of the financial services industry, where she spent years as a consultant and ambassador for the territory.
So far, Dr Dawson and Hodge-Smith have been given junior minister portfolios to manage. The two established junior minister portfolios in government are that or tourism and that of trade and investment promotion. It is not yet clear who has been assigned to what.
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We thank Mather for running a clean campaign. District 4 green team allegedly dropped some envelops. We just want 1 person to speak up but none will. We want independence but still corrupt. Sandy and Ian ran clean campaigns and We love you both.
PVIM please come back under that name – or marlon come from under Myron and join Ronnie or drop Myron and you and Ronnie join.
“The VIP’s new lawmakers were both candidates at the 2019 general elections, however, neither came close to winning or affecting the election results in any significant way”. That statement is inaccurate.
1. Dr. Karl Dawson was not a candidate at the 2019 general elections.
2. Luce Hodge Smith garnered 385 votes to Mark Vanterpool’s 442 votes in 2019.
LORNA FRESH?
Here wondering who will be Deputy Speaker.
To the people who received an envelope, please come forward. The country relies on you. Democracy relies on you coming forward. District 4, District 9. Please come forward. Thank you.
Deputy speaker.
The green machine dropped envelopes in districts 1, 4, 7 and 9 for sure. The people afraid to get in trouble. The Election was bought.
Come from under Myron and join PVIM.
1 and 7 too.