USVI 2026 Primary: Unofficial Results and What Comes Next
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
Polls closed August 1. The Elections System released the territorial summary at 8:46 PM, and within an hour people were sharing screenshots of a document almost nobody could read on a phone.
That's the problem I want to solve here. Below is what the numbers actually say, what is still undecided, and who you will see on the ballot November 3.
One thing up front: these results are unofficial. Absentee ballots are still outstanding and nothing has been certified.
The short version
9,991 ballots, 47.75% turnout. Everything here is unofficial — nothing is certified until the results are made final on August 11.
Territory-wide leaders: Janelle Sarauw for Delegate, and the Plaskett/Potter ticket for Governor.
Four votes. That's the margin in the last St. Thomas/St. John Legislature seat — still too close to call.
Coming November 3: 69 candidates across nine contests and 21 seats, including a five-way governor race.
What the turnout numbers show
9,991 ballots were cast territory-wide. That is 47.75 percent turnout. 17 ballots came back blank.
Fewer than half the registered voters in the Virgin Islands decided who would carry the Democratic line into November. In a territory this size, that means individual precincts and individual voters carry real weight.
Who is leading for the Democratic nominations
Nobody has won anything yet. Until the absentee ballots are counted and the Elections System certifies, these are leaders, not winners. Two territory-wide races were on the ballot:
Delegate to Congress: Janelle K. Sarauw leads with 4,913 votes
Governor and Lt. Governor: Stacey E. Plaskett and Milton E. Potter lead with 4,493 votes
The governor race was closer than that territorial number suggests. Plaskett and Potter built their lead on St. Croix, where they took 2,720 votes to Roach's 1,237. On St. Thomas and St. John, Tregenza Roach and Novelle Francis actually finished first, 1,817 to 1,773. Plaskett carried the territory by carrying St. Croix.
Seven candidates lead in each Legislature district. On St. Croix: Kurt Vialet, Kenneth Gittens, Clifford A. Joseph, Nemmy Williams-Jackson, Lisa J. Charles, Hubert L. Frederick and Jose Gonzalez. On St. Thomas and St. John: Avery L. Lewis, Marvin A. Blyden, Carla J. Joseph, Rudel A. Hodge Jr., Shenelle Francis, Ray Fonseca and Joel S. Browne Connors.
In Board of Education, Terrence T. Joseph and Winona A. Hendricks lead on St. Croix, and Judy M. Gomez and Arah C. Lockhart lead on St. Thomas and St. John. In the St. Thomas and St. John Board of Elections race, Kevin A. Rodriguez and Barbara A. Petersen lead.
The race nobody should call yet
The seventh Legislature seat on St. Thomas and St. John came down to four votes. Browne Connors finished with 1,393. Peter Bailey finished with 1,389.
Four votes, with absentee ballots still coming in.
Board of Elections was close too. Petersen took the second seat by 59 votes over Atanya Springette, and Rodriguez led Petersen by only nine.
If you see anyone posting those seats as settled, they are ahead of the count.
What the primary did not decide
This was a Democratic primary. Every candidate on it filed as a Democrat — all 17 in St. Croix, all 23 in St. Thomas and St. John.
That means the primary picked one party's nominees. It did not pick the field.
The November 3 general election ballot carries 69 candidates across nine contests and 21 seats. Independents, Republicans and the Independent Citizens Movement never appeared in this primary because they did not need to. They filed straight for the general.
A few things that surprised people:
Governor is a five-way race. Plaskett and Potter face four independent tickets. If no ticket reaches a majority, a runoff follows on November 17.
Delegate to Congress is a two-way race. Sarauw faces independent Shelley A. H. Moorhead.
The Legislature races are crowded. St. Croix has 24 candidates for seven seats. St. Thomas and St. John has 20 for seven.
The At-Large seat never had a primary. Only one Democrat filed, so Angel Bolques Jr. and independent Hadiya Sewer go straight to November.
Candidates who fall short once the count is finished will be off the Democratic line. None of them filed an independent backup, so a write-in would be the only path remaining.
Why I built the graphics
I took the official results report and the official candidate listings and rebuilt them as readable images. One card per contest, sorted by district, plus a single graphic with everything on it.
That is the work: taking something accurate but unusable and making it something a person will actually stop and read.
It applies well beyond election night. Most businesses are sitting on information their customers would care about — pricing, service comparisons, results, timelines — trapped in a format nobody engages with. A PDF that takes three pinches to read is information you are not really sharing.
If your business has something worth communicating and it is not landing, that is usually a design problem, not a content problem.
Key dates ahead
Here is what is left on the official Elections System calendar, and how to be ready for November:
Monday, August 3: The Board of Elections canvasses the absentee ballots in both districts, open to the public and media. This is when the closest races can still move.
Tuesday, August 11: The Elections System certifies the primary results. That is when the numbers become final.
Sunday, October 4: Last day to register to vote in the general election.
October 16–31: Early voting for the general election.
Tuesday, November 3: General Election.
Tuesday, November 17: Governor run-off, if no ticket wins a majority on November 3.
Before you share anything
Check the date and time stamp on any results graphic before you pass it along. Mine says 8:46 PM, August 1, and says clearly that the count is unofficial. If a graphic does not tell you when it was made, you have no idea what you are sharing.
Certified results come from the Elections System of the Virgin Islands, and certification is scheduled for August 11. Wait for them before treating anything as final. You can follow the official reports yourself at vivote.gov.
About Flo Dynasty
Flo Dynasty is a Virgin Islands creative studio based on St. Thomas. I build and manage websites, produce video and event media, and design graphics like the ones in this post — the kind that take something people would usually scroll past and make them stop. Website design, branding, videography, video editing, graphic design, digital marketing: the through-line is always the same, making your information worth paying attention to.
I post updates like this to my WhatsApp channel first. Join it at flodynasty.com/whatsapp.
Need something complicated made clear for your business? Book a consultation.
Just Go with the Flo!
Unofficial results as of 08/01/2026, 8:46 PM. Absentee ballots are still outstanding and results are not certified. Candidate listings per the Elections System of the Virgin Islands, official June 2026 filing. Shared for informational purposes only. Flo Dynasty is not affiliated with the Elections System of the Virgin Islands.
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