Saipan- U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan of the CNMI today announced his endorsement of Joe Biden , who has so far widened his lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Like other U.S. territories, the CNMI will not participate in the Nov. 3, U.S. presidential but it will will still participate in the U.S. presidential caucuses and primaries. The Democratic caucuses are scheduled to take place on March 14, 2020, in the Democratic Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Northern Mariana Islands caucuses are a closed caucus, with the territory awarding 11 delegates, of which 6 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses.

Sablan issued the following statement:

"Joe Biden was the first presidential candidate to reach out to me in November last year. Over the following months I have watched and listened carefully as the many other Democratic candidates have made their case to the American people.

"No candidate has made a stronger case than Joe Biden. He is the person, who can bring our nation together and put aside the name calling and the racism we have lived with under the current President.

"I met Joe Biden in my first days as the representative of the people of the Mariana Islands in Congress. Our nation then was on the edge of a great economic depression. Joe Biden was the person that President Obama entrusted to put the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to work. And he did.

"In the Marianas our schools quickly received the money needed to stay open. Taxpayers got a break. There were job-creating investments in infrastructure. Despite the speed and scale of spending, corruption and waste were never an issue. And our nation pulled through, in no small measure because of Joe Biden.

"Today, we face a new crisis: the coronavirus. And we see how a lack of leadership we can trust is threatening our health and our economic well-being. We will all have to work together to overcome this new threat. But we should also learn from this experience that competent and compassionate leadership matters.

"Joe Biden has shown he has those qualities of competence and compassion. He is a proven leader. He is someone we can trust.

"So, today, I am endorsing Joe Biden to be the Democratic nominee and the next President of the United States.

"On Saturday, caucus goers in the Marianas will choose whom to support at the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee. I urge the Marianas caucus to support Joe Biden.

"And on November 3, I urge citizens of the Marianas able to vote in the Presidential election, either here at home or in other parts of the United States, to cast their ballots for Joe Biden."

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