Career
In 1987, de Jongh was appointed as Commissioner of Finance by Governor Alexander Farrelly, his first political office and one that had once been held by his grandfather, Percy. He was key in financial reforming and boosting the economy of the territory in the early 1990s. He also worked as an executive assistant to the governor's office, and he helped to coordinate better interagency cooperation. In 1992, de Jongh left politics and was a powerful and successful businessman. He worked as a consultant for Public Financial Management and was one of the creators of the oversight committee to help Washington, D.C. becoming financially sound. de Jongh has also been an executive at Lockhart and Chilmark Partners, two large Caribbean real estate firms.
De Jongh unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2002 (receiving the second highest amount of votes out of eight candidates) as an independent candidate. He won the governorship in the 2006 general election after defeating former Lieutenant Governor Kenneth Mapp in a November 21 run-off election with over 57% of the vote. Mapp had edged out Adlah Donastorg for the second run-off spot in the November 7 election. De Jongh held the support of the business community, among others, and the expectations of the people for a competently-run public-private partnership in the years to come.
De Jongh took the oath of office on January 1, 2007 to become the 7th elected Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prior to this, he had never served in elective office.
Governor John de Jongh and Lt. Governor Gregory Francis announced that they will seek a second term in office in the 2010 gubernatorial election.
De Jongh won the Democratic primary election on September 11, 2010. He received 7,487 votes, or 53% of the vote in the primary, more than all three of his Democratic challengers combined. Senator Adlah Donastorg Jr. came in second with 4,300 votes; former Lt. Governor Gerard Luz James received 1,823 votes; fourth placed candidate James O'Bryan Jr. garnered 432 votes.
John de Jongh faced independent candidate Kenneth Mapp, a former Lt. Governor, in the general election on November 2, 2010. The contest between De Jongh and Mapp was essentially a rematch of the top two contenders from the 2006 gubernatorial election.
On November 2, 2010, De Jongh and Lt. Governor Gregory Francis won re-election to second term, taking 17,535 votes, or 56.27%. de Jongh defeated the independent gubernatorial ticket of Kenneth Mapp and Malik Sekou, who came in second with 13,580 votes.
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