A blue wave came early to the U.S. territory of Guam.
The islands’ residents elected Guam’s first female governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, on Tuesday. She will be Guam’s first Democrat to serve as governor since 2003.
The current governor, Republican Eddie Baza Calvo, has served for the last eight years.
“We are extremely grateful for the opportunity given to us to make a positive change for all our people,” Leon Guerrero said, according to Guam’s Pacific Daily News.
The unofficial governor-elect was a Democratic lawmaker in the territory’s legislature. Leon Guerrero’s running partner, Joshua Tenorio, will be the island’s first openly gay lieutenant governor.
Guam, which became a U.S. territory in 1898, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean nearly 4,000 miles from the Hawaiian islands. It sits west of the international date line.
Leon Guerrero, the president of the Bank of Guam, and her running mate, Josh Tenorio, won against the Republican ticket with just over 50 percent of the vote, according to KUAM.
Democrats will hold 10 of the legislature’s 15 seats in the next session, Pacific Daily News reported.
Since Guam, like Puerto Rico, is a U.S. territory and not a state, its residents may not vote for president. It is represented by one nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives.
Last year Guam was caught up in rising tensions between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. After launching numerous intermediate-range ballistic missile, North Korea identified Guam as a potential target for an attack on the U.S. Tensions between the two leaders eased after Trump met with Kim in Singapore in June.
Leon Guerrero, the ninth person elected governor of Guam, will be sworn in early next year.
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