In the 1999 general election, Deleon Guerrero defeated Republican incumbent Juan P. Tenorio to represent
Saipan in the
Northern Mariana Islands Senate. During the election, DeLeon Guerrero, the second highest spending candidate in the 1999 election, outspent the incumbent who was the fifth highest spending candidate in the election. He was the first third-party legislator in the CNMI's history and the was described by Zaldy Dandan of
Marianas Variety as the first opposition senator since 1995. He was sworn into office in 2000. In his 2003 reelection effort, he finished fourth of five candidates, losing to Democratic candidate Luis Palacios Crisostimo. He left office in 2004. During the campaign, Guerrero urged young people studying overseas to return to the Northern Mariana Islands after completing their education. Guerrero stated that he believed low wages were the major reason why young people choose to work on the
U.S. mainland. He said the CNMI government needed to do more to encourage young people to stay in the Commonwealth and that the CNMI should pay workers "their worth." He called on younger workers to return to the CNMI so that older workers could
retire saying, "This is their home and we, their people, need them." ==References==