Vernon Araujo Virgin Islands Legislature
US Virgin Islands Legislature Election 2026
Vote

Vernon
Araujo

For Legislature
#8On the
ballot
V for all ah we

More of the same will only bring more of the same. Vernon Araujo will bring new ideas and new opportunities: a real plan to keep our families here, and bring them home.

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Vernon Araujo
#8 on the ballot · St. Thomas/St. John District
Rooted in our islands. Focused on our future.

V for All Ah We

A vote for "V" is a vote for all ah we: every island, every family, every future. Listening, representing, and delivering for every community in the territory.

Stronger Communities

Safer, healthier, more vibrant neighborhoods across the territory.

Economic Opportunity

Creating jobs, backing local businesses, and growing our economy.

Investing in Our Youth

Quality education and real opportunities for young people to thrive.

Vernon Araujo leading a Child Abuse Prevention Month march with the community
The comeback

He left to find opportunity.
He came home to create it.

  • RootsRaised on St. Thomas & St. John. A graduate of Antilles School, class of 2002.
  • PursuitStudied at Boston College and built a career in fundraising, development, and community mobilization.
  • ReturnChose to come home and invest in his community, leading development at the Family Resource Center and staying active in the civic, youth, and family organizations that hold the islands together.
  • VisionNow proposing real solutions to real problems, so the islands become a place where our people can afford to stay, and want to return.

"I left to find opportunity. I came back to create it. We can do this for thousands of Virgin Islanders."

Vernon Araujo

What's at stake

The crisis isn't rhetoric.
It's arithmetic.

18%
of our population gone since 2010: among the steepest losses under the U.S. flag
45
the rising median age: aging faster than the mainland, with more deaths than births
7,000
workers needed now to complete post-hurricane recovery: a labor gap at every skill level
60%
of GDP tied to tourism: one storm, one downturn, and the whole economy shakes
Four priorities

The issues that decide whether
our people stay.

Other politicians only state the problems. Vernon has the solutions.

Priority 01

🏠 Housing

A critical shortage of affordable housing is pushing young families out and locking the diaspora out.

We need more affordable housing for Virgin Islanders. The answer is higher-density rental homes, 8+ unit buildings that build up, not out, with real incentives to build them at scale, so supply rises and families can afford to stay.

More homes for Virgin Islanders. Build up, not out.

Priority 02

💰 Affordability

Imported goods and costly energy meet stagnant wages, so people leave to make ends meet.

New businesses and real competition grow the job market and lift wages, while local production and our position in the Caribbean help bring down the cost of imported goods and energy.

Grow the economy, grow wages, lower prices.

Priority 03

🧠 Brain Drain

Talented young people leave, the diaspora can't return, and workforce shortages stall recovery.

Tax-free pathways for returning residents and 15-year incentives for critical-shortage workers remove the barriers to coming back.

Come home. Build different. Build together.

Priority 04

📈 Expanding the Economy

Over-reliance on tourism leaves the islands exposed to every hurricane, pandemic, and economic shock.

Grow new enterprises and take advantage of our unique position in the Caribbean to bring costs down and drive local development, building revenue streams that don't rise and fall with the cruise ships.

Diversify. Grow. Protect the islands.

The Come Home Act

A specific plan.
Not a vague promise.

The Virgin Islands Reclamation Act — a seven-part incentive program built to bring people home, house them, and diversify the economy, all while keeping the gross receipts tax fully in place.

1

Remote Worker Incentive

If you're a Virgin Islander working remote in the States, come home and enjoy 10 years income-tax-free: you keep more of your paycheck, and your spending grows our economy without taking anyone's job.

2

Critical Workforce Shortage

15 years tax-free for nurses, teachers, first responders, engineers, and trades: the people recovery depends on.

3

Business Formation & Relocation

0% corporate income tax for 15 years for new and relocating businesses that hire and build locally.

4

High-Density Rental Housing

Full income-tax exemption for developers who build and operate long-term rental housing: density, not sprawl.

5

Marine & Temporary Worker Housing

Houses recovery and construction workers on regulated, temporary sites, including marine vessels, so the surge of workers doesn't compete for scarce homes and keep displacing local families. Our housing stays for Virgin Islanders.

6

Local Construction Joint Ventures

Pairs outside capacity with licensed local firms, expanding reconstruction while local workers gain the skills.

7

Come Home and Benefit

If your roots are in the territory, come home to real incentives that reward returning, staying, and building your future here.

Why it works: it attracts people who spend and build here, without punishing existing residents. Every beneficiary still pays the gross receipts tax, so the Territory's revenue base grows rather than shrinks.

Powering the islands

A real plan for WAPA,
and a bill that finally falls.

We've already been funded to build the solar, and it's already saving millions on St. Croix. The job now is simple: finish it faster, wrap every island in microgrids, and put the fuel savings straight onto your bill.

35MW

of new daytime solar coming from the Fortuna & Bovoni farms: more than half the district's daytime power.

$8M / yr

in projected savings to WAPA from the Fortuna solar-and-battery system alone.

5.45¢

per kWh for stored solar power, against the roughly 22¢ fuel surcharge on your bill today.

The resiliency engine

Microgrids: lights on when it matters most

A microgrid lets a district run on its own local solar and batteries and "island" itself when the main grid goes down. The plan divides the territory into self-sufficient microgrid districts, so no single failure can take a whole island dark: a storm lifeline on the worst days, and cheaper solar on all the ordinary ones.

  • St. Thomas: four districts. North, South, East, and West, each able to power itself so an outage in one never drags down the rest.
  • St. Croix: four districts. North, South, East, and West, each with its own solar and storage to stay lit when a feeder fails.
  • St. John: two districts. East and West, so the island is never again hostage to a single cable from St. Thomas.
  • Critical facilities first. Within every district, hospitals, dialysis, water pumping, shelters, and communications get backup as the top priority: the places that keep people alive never go dark.
1

Finish the funded solar: on a deadline

Fortuna and Bovoni online in 2026, St. Croix's western solar-and-storage next, and batteries on every farm to carry cheap power into the evening peak.

2

Wrap every island in microgrids

Divide each island into self-sufficient solar-and-storage districts, ten across the territory, so a storm or a downed line can't take out a whole island.

3

Go faster, and power your own roof

Beat the 2040 target with yearly public milestones, and expand rooftop and community solar so households cut their own bills, not just the utility's.

4

Diversify the mix

Move the approved wind project forward and evaluate waste-to-energy, so we generate around the clock, not only when the sun is up.

5

Guarantee the savings reach you

Pass fuel savings straight through to your rate, publish the real numbers quarterly, and attach deadlines with teeth, not another year of excuses.

Honest about the numbers: islands will always pay more than the mainland, no neighbor to buy cheap power from, and every drop of fuel imported by ship. So these are targets with public deadlines, not magic guarantees. The promise is a bill that goes down and stays steady as we burn less imported fuel every year.

"We've already been funded to build the solar. My job is to finish it faster, wrap every island in microgrids so one cut cable can't black us out, and put the savings straight onto your bill, in writing."

Why now

Fifty years is a long time
for one party to hold power.

"This isn't about one person, or even one party. It's about what happens when there's no real accountability. Vote for a leader who has to earn your vote, not demand it."

Vernon's campaign isn't anti-party. It's pro-competition, pro-accountability, and pro-results. Break the monopoly. Build the future.

Get involved

Real change needs
real people.

8 Election Day · Vote #8 on the ballot · Your Vote. Our Future.

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