Republican Party of American Samoa


Republican Party of American Samoa is the affiliate of the U.S. Republican Party in American Samoa. It is based in the territorial capital of Pago Pago.
The party was founded by Peter Tali Coleman. Coleman was in 1956 the first Samoan to be appointed Governor. He became the first popularly elected Governor in 1977 and won re-election in 1980 and 1988. In 1988, he replaced Governor Fofō Iosefa Fiti Sunia, who had resigned after being convicted of defrauding the U.S. Government.
Coleman’s daughter, Aumua Amata Radewagen, is a current Congresswoman and also the party’s National Committee Woman. She received the unanimous endorsement from the party in 2018 in order to run for Congress. She is the first American Samoan female member in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is also the first Republican representative in Congress from American Samoa. In 2018, she won reelection with 83.3 percent of the vote, the highest number of votes in American Samoa history. She has represented the party in the Republican National Committee since 1986.
In the 2012 Republican primary, Mitt Romney won all nine delegates from American Samoa. In the 2016 American Samoa Republican caucuses, Donald Trump won all nine delegates. In 2008, all delegates were won by John McCain.

Current Leadership

In March 2016, the party elected new leadership in the lead up to the 2016 American Samoa Republican Caucus.
Party LeaderPosition
Utu Abe MalaeChairman
John RaynarVice-Chairman
Aumua Amata Coleman RadewagenNational Committeewoman
Su'a Carl SchusterNational Committeeman
Sailitafa SamoaSecretary
Tina IoneTreasurer

History

In the 2014 elections, Radewagen was elected as American Samoa's Delegate to Congress. After having served fourteen consecutive terms in Washington, DC, Democrat Eni Faleomavaega lost his reelection bid to Republican Aumua Amata during the 2014 American Samoan general election. She won reelection in 2016 with 75.4%, and won reelection with 83.3% of the votes in a three-way race in 2018.
In 2015, the party criticized the Democratic National Committee as Tulsi Gabbard did not get the opportunity to participate in televised debates. Gabbard, a Democrat, represents Hawai’i in the U.S. Congress but was born in American Samoa. The Republican Party of American Samoa also planned to invite Gabbard to their next Republican primary debate.

Notable people