Jesus Rosario Sablan is a Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. Sablan served as the Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands

Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has a self governing government consisting of a locally elected governor, Lieutenant Governor and the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. The current Lieutenant Governor is Eloy Inos, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created when...

 from January 12, 1998 until January 14, 2002 under former Governor Pedro Tenorio

Pedro Tenorio

Pedro P. Tenorio was the second and fifth elected Governor of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.Tenorio was born on Saipan. He graduated from George Washington High School in Guam and attended the University of Guam. He has worked as a schoolteacher, a shipping...

.

Sablan ran as a Republican candidate for Governor in the 2001 gubernatorial election. However, he was defeated in the Republican primary election

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

 by Juan Babauta, who went on to win the general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

in November 2001. Though some observers expected Sablan to pursue a campaign for Governor as an indpedenent or a write-in candidate, Sablan ultimately withdrew from the race after the Republican primary.