Representative Madeleine Z. Bordallo

Madeleine Mary Zeien Bordallo, born May 31, 1933, in Graceville, Minnesota, is an American-Guamanian politician who served as the delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives for Guam’s at-large congressional district from January 3, 2003, to January 3, 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman ever to serve as Guam’s delegate in Congress and held the seat for eight consecutive terms. During her sixteen years in the House of Representatives, she participated in the legislative process as one of six non-voting delegates, representing the interests of Guam’s residents during a significant period in American and territorial history.

Bordallo was born into a family of educators and moved to Guam after her father accepted a position with the Guam Department of Education. She attended St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, and the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she studied music. Although she later acknowledged that she had not completed a college degree, her early academic and cultural experiences helped shape her interest in public service and the arts. In the 1950s and 1960s, she worked as a television presenter for KUAM-TV, the first television station on Guam and an NBC affiliate, becoming a familiar public figure in the territory and gaining experience in communication and public engagement that would later serve her political career.

Bordallo married Ricardo J. Bordallo, who served as Governor of Guam from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1987. As first lady during both of her husband’s gubernatorial administrations, she promoted arts education in Guam’s classrooms and worked to increase awareness and appreciation of Chamorro culture. Her tenure as first lady coincided with efforts to modernize Guam’s institutions while preserving indigenous traditions. In 1990, after her husband was convicted of witness tampering and conspiracy to obstruct justice and his appeals were unsuccessful, he committed suicide rather than face incarceration in federal prison, a personal tragedy that occurred just as she was emerging as a major political figure in her own right.

Bordallo’s independent political career began in the Guam Legislature, where she became the first female Democrat elected as a senator. She served five terms in the Legislature of Guam, first from 1981 to 1983 and then from 1987 to 1995. During these years she built a reputation as a leading Democratic voice on island issues and participated in national party affairs, including serving as a member of Guam’s uncommitted delegation to the 1988 Democratic National Convention. In 1990, she became the first female candidate for governor of Guam and the first non-Chamorro gubernatorial candidate in the territory’s history, running with Ping Duenas as her candidate for lieutenant governor. Although unsuccessful, the campaign marked a milestone for women and ethnic diversity in Guam’s political life.

In 1994, Bordallo ran on the Democratic ticket for the territory’s executive branch as the running mate of Carl Gutierrez. The Gutierrez–Bordallo ticket was elected, and she became the first female lieutenant governor of Guam, serving from January 1995 to January 2003. As lieutenant governor, she focused on promoting tourism, environmental protection, and island beautification, seeking to balance economic development with conservation of Guam’s natural resources. Her two terms in that office further solidified her status as a pioneering woman in Guam’s political leadership and gave her extensive experience in territorial administration and intergovernmental relations.

With her tenure as lieutenant governor ending due to term limits in 2002, Bordallo sought federal office when Delegate Robert Underwood vacated Guam’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to run for governor. Running as a Democrat, she was elected as Guam’s delegate and took office on January 3, 2003, becoming the first woman to represent Guam in Congress. She was re-elected repeatedly, serving until January 3, 2019. In Congress, Bordallo devoted particular attention to economic issues affecting Guam, including support for small businesses and efforts to strengthen the island’s tourism-based economy. She was also deeply involved in military and environmental matters, reflecting Guam’s strategic role in U.S. defense policy and its vulnerable island ecosystem.

During her congressional service, Bordallo held assignments on the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Natural Resources. On Armed Services, she served on the Subcommittee on Readiness, where she rose to the position of ranking member, and on the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, engaging in oversight of defense posture and military infrastructure, including the significant U.S. military presence on Guam. On Natural Resources, she served on the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs and the Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans, where she advocated for the interests of U.S. territories and addressed issues such as resource management, conservation, and the unique challenges facing island communities. She was active in numerous caucuses, including serving as vice chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and co-chair of the Congressional China Caucus, and participated in the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus, the Long Range Strike Caucus, the United States–Philippines Friendship Caucus, the Wounded to Work Caucus, the U.S.–Japan Caucus, the House Baltic Caucus, and the Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus.

Bordallo’s legislative priorities included seeking recognition and redress for Guam’s World War II survivors. She strongly supported provisions in the proposed Omnibus Territories Act of 2013 that would have created a fund in the U.S. Treasury to pay war reparation claims to living Guam residents who were raped, injured, interned, or subjected to forced labor, marches, or internment during the Japanese occupation, as well as to survivors of compensable residents who died in the war. When the Senate removed these provisions to secure unanimous consent for the bill, she publicly objected, stating that she was “extremely disappointed” and reaffirming her commitment to continue the fight for war claims for Guam’s manamko, or elders, despite what she characterized as obstacles raised by conservative Republicans. Her advocacy on this issue reflected her broader effort to secure federal recognition of Guam’s wartime sacrifices and its unresolved political status.

Throughout her congressional tenure, Bordallo faced both intra-party and general election challenges. In January 2012, Republican Guam Senator Frank Blas Jr. announced he would challenge her for the delegate seat; in the November 2012 general election she defeated him, receiving 19,765 votes (58 percent) to his 12,995 votes (38 percent). That same year, Democrat Karlo Dizon, a Yale graduate and former White House intern, sought the Democratic nomination for delegate, but Bordallo prevailed in the primary with 73 percent of the vote. In 2014, she again sought re-election, defeating Matthew Pascual Artero in the Democratic primary on August 30, 2014, before facing Republican Margaret McDonald Metcalfe in the general election. In 2016, she won re-election by her narrowest margin since first taking office, defeating former Governor Felix Perez Camacho with 53 percent to 47 percent of the vote. In April 2008, during her years in Congress, she publicly apologized after an investigative report by the Pacific Daily News revealed that she and Guam Senator Jesse Lujan had claimed to hold college degrees on official biographies and résumés despite not having graduated.

Bordallo’s congressional career concluded following the 2018 election cycle. In the Democratic primary that year, she lost renomination to territorial Senator Michael San Nicolas by 3.4 percent, ending her sixteen-year tenure as Guam’s delegate. Her defeat marked the close of a long period in which she had been a central figure in Guam’s representation at the federal level. Over the course of her public life—as first lady, legislator, lieutenant governor, and delegate—Madeleine Z. Bordallo broke multiple gender and cultural barriers, becoming the first woman to hold several of Guam’s highest political offices and playing a prominent role in articulating the concerns of Guam and other U.S. territories within the broader framework of American governance.