page_title: Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives
section_title: American Samoa
hierarchical_section_title: Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives / Delegates / American Samoa
caption_attribution_description: English: Aumua Amata Radewagen, 114th Congress
context_page_description: Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives are representatives of their territory in the House of Representatives, who do not have a right to vote on proposed legislation in the full House but nevertheless have floor privileges and are able to participate in certain other House functions. Non-voting members may vote in a House committee of which they are a member and introduce legislation. There are currently six non-voting members: a delegate representing the District of Columbia, a resident commissioner representing Puerto Rico, and one delegate for each of the other four permanently inhabited US territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. A seventh delegate, representing the Cherokee Nation, has been formally proposed but not yet seated, while an eighth, representing the Choctaw Nation, is named in a treaty but has neither been proposed nor seated. As with voting members, non-voting delegates are elected every two years, and the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico is elected every four years.
context_section_description: As the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam had delegates in Washington, D.C., the American Samoa-based Political Status Study Commission had meetings with the delegates from these two territories. They came home to Pago Pago convinced of the importance of having this representation in the nation's capital. Members of the American Samoa Fono had already been attending budget hearings in Washington for over a decade by 1970. During a special session held in July 1969, American Samoa Senate President Salanoa introduced Senate Bill 54 in order to create the Office of the Delegate at Large to Washington, DC. This was approved by Governor Owen Aspinall on August 8, 1969. Its first delegate, A. U. Fuimaono, was elected in 1970. Fuimaono ended his term in order to unsuccessfully run for Governor of American Samoa. Former speaker of the House and Senate President HC Lutali became the territory's second delegate to Washington. Fofō I. F. Sunia was elected the third delegate at large when Lutali decided not to seek re-election in 1978. Sunia went to Washington knowing his term would be limited to two years as the U.S. president had established a non-voting seat for American Samoa in the United States House of Representatives. However, Sunia was elected to American Samoa's first Congressional seat in 1981, and served until 1988. He was succeeded by Eni Faleomavaega from 1989 to 2015. On January 3, 2015, Amata Coleman Radewagen became America Samoa's both first female delegate and their first Republican elected delegate.
caption: Amata C. Radewagen is American Samoa's first female delegate
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