Leevin Taitano Camacho won Tuesday’s race for attorney general with 23,802 votes (67.57 percent), beating Douglas Moylan who garnered 11,344 votes (32.2 percent).
In the course of 12 years of practice, Camacho is best known for his activities in environmental law, including the well-publicized efforts to save the Pagat Village area from encroachment by a military firing range and to block construction of a high-rise tower in southern Guam.
“Today is a testament to the extraordinary power of ordinary people. People who, against the odds, organized to support a first-time candidate. People who, guided by the desire to bring about positive change in our community, remained steadfast in the face of fearmongering. And we did it. We stayed the course and, more importantly, we stayed true to ourselves,” Camacho said in a statement.
Camacho— the fifth elected attorney general since the office became an elected position— is replacing Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson.
“But today is just the beginning. There is much work to be done. Building safer communities, ensuring that child support payments get to the families who count on that money, and helping agencies, boards and commissions stay on the right side of the law will take work. Cultivating a culture of robust public accountability will take time. But I assure you: I am up to the challenge. And you have my word that I will spend my tenure as your Attorney General honoring your support, and doing everything I can to finish what we started.”
Moylan congratulated Camacho, who he said will assume “a very important role in January, created not just to be a check and balance for other government officials, but to be the chief legal officer to the entire government of Guam and our people.”
“I remain available to him and any elected official to share my thoughts on the many issues facing our community,” Moylan said. “On behalf of myself, my family and my campaign team, I thank the voters who again trusted in me, as well as the other voters for exercising their right to elect their leaders. I also thank our People for allowing me to speak to them during this election season to share our views with them and to listen to their concerns.”