Blas, Okada to launch gubernatorial ticket; Cruz steps back to focus on health care

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Gubernatorial candidate Speaker Frank Blas Jr. and his running mate, Mary Okada, the retiring president of Guam Community College, will officially kick off their campaign on Tuesday to seek the Guam Republicans' nomination to be the party's standard bearer in this year's race.

Their announcement capped months of speculation about the Republican Party's second team set to face Vice Speaker Tony Ada and EJ Calvo's ticket in the Aug. 1 primary.

Dr. Michael Cruz, who was previously expected to join the race, has dropped his political plans to focus on his medical career.

Michael Cruz

"After much prayer, thought, and conversation with my family, I have decided that I will not seek the office of governor. God has made it clear to me that my purpose lies elsewhere—in healing, in mentoring and in continuing to serve our community as a physician," he said.

"Health challenges have reminded me that life is a gift, and that service takes many forms," he added.

Cruz served as the eighth lieutenant governor of Guam from 2007 to 2011.

In 2023, he was appointed adjutant general of the Guam National Guard. Democratic Gov. Lou Leon Guererro, however, replaced him with retired Army Col. Karin Watson last year amid differences over the future of Guam Memorial Hospital and his rumored gubernatorial run under the Republican Party.

"For most of my life, I have stood in the spaces where government and humanity meet—in the operating room, on the battlefield and in the halls of public office. I have seen the best of who we are as a people, and I have seen where we fall short," Cruz said.

He said his public service experiences have convinced him "that true leadership does not always require a title. It requires conviction — the willingness to speak truth even when it is unpopular, and the courage to act when silence would be easier."

"We can continue to repeat the same patterns, or we can choose renewal — moral, political, and spiritual. My hope and prayer is that new voices will rise, unburdened by old loyalties and inspired by love of island, not love of power," Cruz said.

The Blas-Okada team will make their official announcement at 4 p.m, Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza Resort.

"It's time to get real about the state of our island and the world ahead to turn things around," reads a blurb on their political flyer, which brands the legislative leader and the former Guam Community College president as "tested and trusted leaders."

On the Democratic Party’s side, Lt. Gov. Joshua Tenorio and Sen. Tina Muna Barnes are vying for nomination against Sen. Joe San Agustin and former Sen. Dwayne San Nicolas. Sen. Therese Terlaje is anticipated to throw her hat into the ring, and is predicted to pick former broadcast journalist  Sen. Chris Barnett.

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