U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress

Current Representative

What the Delegate Can and Cannot Do

Stacey Plaskett holds nearly every legislative power a House member has. The office introduces bills and amendments, serves on standing committees, votes in those committees, questions witnesses at hearings, and speaks and manages debate on the House floor. Rule III of the House rules gives delegates and the Resident Commissioner the same powers and privileges as members inside the Committee of the Whole and on the committees where they serve.

The limit is final passage. Plaskett cannot vote when the full House decides whether a bill becomes law, and cannot vote for Speaker. The Committee of the Whole vote has been turned on and off as House majorities changed, and it was restored at the start of the 116th Congress in 2019. It carries a safeguard: if delegate votes decide a recorded vote in the Committee of the Whole, the committee rises and the House votes again without them.

Committee assignments carry real weight here. Plaskett sits on Ways and Means, the panel that writes tax law, and on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Her votes in those rooms count the same as any other member’s.

Committee Assignments

In the 119th Congress Plaskett serves on the Committee on the Budget, on the Committee on Ways and Means with seats on its Social Security and Tax subcommittees, and on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she sits on the Subcommittee on Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture and the Subcommittee on the National Intelligence Enterprise.

How Long the Virgin Islands Has Sent a Delegate

The territory has had a seat in the House since the 93rd Congress. Public Law 92-271, signed on April 10, 1972, created delegate seats for both the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. The first election came that November and the first delegate took office on January 3, 1973. Ron de Lugo, a Democrat, held the seat first. Plaskett was first elected in 2014 and took office on January 3, 2015.

Population and Representation

The 2020 Census counted 87,146 people across St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John, down 18.1 percent from 106,405 in 2010. The Census Bureau does not run the American Community Survey in the island areas, so the 2020 count is the most recent official federal figure rather than a current-year estimate. Residents are U.S. citizens by birth and have no voting member of Congress.

How the Delegate Is Elected

The territory elects its delegate at large, across all three main islands, to a two year term beginning January 3. Federal law requires the delegate to appear on a separate ballot and to win a majority of the votes cast, with a runoff on the fourteenth day after the election if no candidate reaches 50 percent. Plaskett is not seeking a seventh term. She filed in May 2026 to run for Governor of the Virgin Islands. Janelle K. Sarauw won the Democratic primary for the delegate seat on August 1, 2026, and independents Shelley A. H. Moorhead, Brett M. McClafferty, and Ida Smith also filed for the general election.

What is on the ballot nationally on November 3, 2026

Contact Your Representative

Sources

Officeholder, committee assignments, and office addresses come from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. The powers and limits of the office come from the Rules of the House of Representatives for the 119th Congress, Rule III. The rules for electing the delegate come from title 48, section 1712 of the U.S. Code. The seat was created by Public Law 92-271 of 1972. Population comes from the U.S. Census Bureau 2020 Island Areas Censuses. Candidate filings and primary results come from the Elections System of the Virgin Islands. Checked August 12, 2026.