At 92, Bordallo shows no signs of slowing down. From her office in Washington, she continues to push Guam’s priorities onto the national stage, reminding every room she enters that the island is part of the American story.

Former Guam first lady Madeleine Bordallo could have retired years ago. She has already served decades as a Guam lawmaker, two-term lieutenant governor, and the island’s longest-serving delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Instead, Bordallo — who lost re-election to Congress in 2018 — continues her lifelong work as an advocate for Guam, now running the governor’s liaison office in Washington, D.C.

The liaison office was first envisioned by her late husband, Gov. Ricardo J. Bordallo, as a way to ensure Guam’s governor had a presence in the capital regardless of who held the island’s delegate seat or which party was in power.

By law, the office’s role is to keep the federal government informed of Guam’s priorities, promote the island’s economy, and identify federal program opportunities. In practice, it also helps arrange White House tours for visiting Guamanians and fields a wide range of constituent concerns.

The office is a two-person operation inside the Hall of States building, a short walk from Union Station. Bordallo works in one room while her longtime assistant, Roseanne Mantanona, works next door. Their neighbors include the National Governors Association and other territorial and state offices.

Before her 2018 loss, Bordallo had risen to become the ranking member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee. Had she won re-election, she was in line to chair the panel. Looking back, she says her campaign should have made better use of social media to connect with Guam voters.

Recently, Bordallo sat down with My Jungle Rules in her D.C. office to talk about her time in Congress, the ongoing challenges for Guam and the territories, and why she continues this work today.

Q: As a congresswoman, what was your approach to the job? How do you get things done in Congress as a non-voting delegate from a territory?

A: Well, I would put first and foremost, being very friendly to everybody and to be bipartisan. I did a lot of that, I worked across party lines. Because Guam, it's not much of an incentive, you know, to ask your buddies to cosponsor something you introduced, because we have nothing to offer. 


And so, I just made a lot of friends. And then… I went on many congressional delegations. I think I was 19 times in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other difficult areas, which nobody signed up for, especially if you're a woman. And I chose to (serve on the Armed Services committee) It’s very important. Every delegate from Guam should be on the defense committee, and I chose (the Natural Resources Committee), which deals with the territories. And when I first went in, the Democrats were in the majority, so they gave me a third committee and I went to small business, which was very good, too. Sometimes, if another party comes in, they'll only give you two committees to serve on, so I was fortunate.

Somebody will come up to me saying, "I served in Guam during World War II. So, what is it like now?” And I said, well, since the war, we're growing up, and we're making additions, and each year we become a little more sophisticated. And of course, then the brown tree snake was the big story. So I got teased a lot about that. 

I will say this, when I was in Congress, nobody knew much about Guam. If you're a representative from the East Coast or the West Coast, you knew Guam, a little bit about it. But if you're from Midwest… they came up to me and they said, you know, “Guam, are you a part of the United States?” I said, "Well, I wouldn't be here in Congress if it wasn't.” Then they began to take an interest, and everybody wanted to go. 

And then because I was on defense, I was offered a fellow. A fellow is an active-duty military man or woman, and normally they're colonels or something… So very prominent military people served under me, and we treated them Guam style. We’d invite them to the Novenas and everything, and then they'd all come back saying they had never, ever been in a place where the people are so hospitable, so friendly. They want to help you out. 

Q: You were in Congress long enough to be ranking member of your committee. How important was that, in terms of doing your job, to be a ranking member?

A: So as ranking member, you're the head of the Democrats in the committee. And you, they come to you, if they want to speak or something like that, or I tell them, I watch over them. They're next to be on. You've got 5 minutes and so forth and so on. So that's how that works

All the Democrats would have to ask me if they could ask a few questions. So the ranking member is absolutely the best. If I had stayed in, then that would have been a real plus. 

Q: I have a question about federal legislation that excludes Guam and the territories. For example, there’s caps on Medicaid and Guam can’t be part of Supplemental Security Income. Why does that happen? Why does Congress do that to the territories?

A: I don’t know. I can’t really tell you. We got down on the floor one time – Guam, CNMI, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa and D.C. – and we were all holding hands down on the floor. We wanted to be able to vote. In Congress, at my time, we were able to vote – the Democrats were in the majority – we would be able to vote for amendments only. But when the Republicans came in again, that was stripped. 

I now belong to the National Governor’s Conference, representing Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Josh Tenorio. We meet Mondays downstairs, and I would raise my hand – there’s a representative there from every area: Agriculture, Health, Education, you name it, they’re all there. And they would mention what’s going on in Congress so we would all know. And they would always say, “and the states, and the states, and the states are going to do this and we’re going to do that.” They would recognize me, and I’d say, “Does this bill that you’re contemplating working on, does it include the territories?” Sometimes there was a pause. But then, right away, “Oh yes, oh yes, all the territories are included.” Now they stand up and they say states and territories, because if you are not included in the original bill, you’re gonna have to go through the whole thing singularly, and that takes time.”

Q: Do you think Guam and the territories are omitted intentionally?

A: No, no, I don’t think so. Sometimes it's just, you know, not really knowing enough about the territories, I think. We’re not a big state, so we're not asking for a lot, but we just want to be included in everything — all the grants and what have you. And we deserve it. We’re U.S.

Q: Do you think you’re still able to make a difference in this job?

A: Oh, yes. And we do. My husband (suggested creating this office) because the administration here was Republican… so he realized that he wasn’t getting enough power. It was a Republican delegate at the time. He decided the Democrats needed a voice over here, especially a territory. And it was very successful over the years. We had some (liaison office directors) that were very active, others that weren’t too active, but I find it very, very good. You have to get along with everybody. You can’t sit here and say, “Well, I’m a Democrat and the Congress over there is Republican.” You’ve got to get along. I’ve always maintained that.

Editor’s note: To put the following questions in context, Guam’s delegate, like every member of Congress, is allowed to nominate five students to each of the major service academies, which means a total of 20 students at a time from Guam can attend the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, West Point and the Merchant Marine Academy. As those students graduate, the delegate can nominate as many as 10 students per open slot.

Q: Do you think these appointments are important for Guam?

A:  Absolutely. They’re all now officers, many of them. What was important was there was never any real interest in West Point (when I first took office). We had the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy, and that’s what they always choose. Then I called up West Point one time and said I’m coming out. So there were only two cadets at the time, and now it’s going well. I became a very good friend of the academies.

Q: This is basically a full-ride education, right, with a military career waiting for you?

A: Absolutely. The slots were mostly filled during my term. I was in Congress for 16 years. There was one girl I was sitting next to (at the Naval Academy) and she wanted to be a medical doctor – this is the Navy- because they take me every year for lunch, and I meet all my cadets. She said, “They’re going to take care of my medical career as well.” I mean, that’s phenomenal. So they follow you through, whatever it is – engineering, whatever.

Q: How did you decide which kids to nominate to these academies?

A: Well, that’s complicated because I did it the right way. First of all, I put an ad in the newspaper — we are now accepting nominations. The PDN always ran something, and the television. And then the names would come in, you know. They’d visit (my office) and say they’re interested. So, I said, get your biodata together, then I took down everybody. I don’t make any decisions. A lot of the Congresspeople do make decisions, but not me. I didn’t want to get involved. So I took all the names in, then one of my staff found out who the parents were, and we invited them for lunch at the Outrigger, where I was always staying. So, they would come, the parents, mother, father and the boy or the girl – whoever the candidate was. And then one thing I did, which was unusual, was I would invite a graduate from one of the academies to come there, say a few words and answer any questions the parents had, because he went through it. That’s what the young people would want to know: what do we have to do? Then it went straight to the academy, all the names. Then we didn’t hear for some time as the academy makes the decision of the five names. A lot of (congressmen) don’t do it that way. They just give the name of their cousin, nephew. These senators, they’ve got ways of keeping it in the family and all that, you know. My family is mostly educators, so I never did it that way. So then (the academy) calls my office, and then I call the parents, telling them their boy or girl has been selected from the academy and you’ll be hearing from them. Oh, they’re so excited. It was very successful, the way we did it, and we got thank-yous from the parents, who were so grateful.

Q: You’ve done a lot in your life. Why do you continue to work for the people of Guam?

A: I’ve been out there all of my life, almost. I went out to Guam when I was 14 and graduated from high school at George Washington in 1951… It was so simple and so beautiful, and I loved Guam so much. I always loved Guam. The first time we came, we were met at Apra Harbor with Mr. Rios and my father, in a Jeep, and I knew right then and there this was for me. I like this place. Mr. Rios – his family was in Inarajan, so we went to the Inarajan fiesta. I never saw food like that. Tables were just – I mean they looked like they were miles long. And they had a parade, and my sister and I loved it, we just loved it. And the people are so friendly… Right now, the way the status is, there’s still challenges and you just have to keep going. 

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