Albert Bryan Will Announce His Running Mate On Thursday

ST. CROIX — Former Dept. of Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan will announce his choice for lieutenant governor at an event at Gertrude’s Restaurant on Thursday afternoon, a person deep inside Mr. Bryan’s camp has confirmed to The Consortium. This person also sought to quash rumors that Darryl Smalls, the former Department of Public Works commissioner, had been chosen by Mr. Bryan, stating that the choice to be revealed on Thursday will douse the Bryan campaign with excitement — a critical campaigning component it has been lacking as of late.

The announcement will be made at 4:00 p.m. The Consortium will be present at the event.

Mr. Bryan’s announcement on Thursday will come a day before the official opening of the VI Carnival season. Official events start on Friday with the Carnival Village opening, and it has been tradition that serious candidates running for governor select their running mates before carnival.

The Thursday announcement will come late, however, and it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to breathe new life into the Albert movement — which at first was atop political observers’ list as among the formidable teams. But the group lost some traction after constant back and forth with the Angel Dawson team during attempts to unify both camps, according to multiple persons with intimate knowledge of the efforts, who requested anonymity because the discussions were private.

Yet even after several attempts, the two teams could not come to an agreement as neither would accept the lieutenant governor position, according to these people.

After the talks collapsed, Mr. Bryan was upstaged by the Dawson camp when Mr. Dawson announced Marise James as his running mate, an announcement that has been hailed by observers as a solid choice.

Whether the Thursday announcement will be enough to recover some of the luster that accompanied the Bryan campaign in its early days, remains to be seen. The Petrus/Sanes movement has been the most formidable thus far, and has been making itself ubiquitous with a variety of ads on multiple platforms — from radio, to online, to television and even in the movie theaters.