Sennai HabtesFor Senate Donate
St. Thomas–St. John District · Senate 2026

Sennai Habtes
For Senate

Purpose, Not Politics

Sennai Habtes, PhD · Scientist · Resource Manager · Virgin Islander

Born here. Raised here. Returned with the skills to serve. A scientist with the experience to identify the right problems, build the right solutions, and make government work for people, not paperwork!

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Sennai Habtes

Better Policy Today. A Better Virgin Islands Tomorrow.

Sennai in conversation with a community member Born · Raised · ReturnedTo Serve!

Meet Sennai

A Virgin Islander who went and got the skills to serve.

I was born and raised on St. Thomas. My mother's family has been on these islands since before we became a U.S. territory. My father came from Eritrea to earn his doctorate. Both spent their lives educating Virgin Islanders.

The ocean set the course of my life. I left to train. I earned a degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a PhD in oceanography. Then I came home. Not because I had to, but because this is where I belonged. I taught and built research programs at the University of the Virgin Islands. I served as the Territory's Chief of Fisheries.

I've never been a politician. But everywhere I served, I hit the same wall. Grants were delayed. Projects stalled. Money meant for our communities sat stuck in red tape. Those aren't separate problems. They are symptoms of one broken system, and you don't fix a broken system with politics. You find the cause, build a solution, and make a system to ensure it is working.

"Government should serve people, not paperwork."
PhD, Marine Resource Assessment / Biological Oceanography University of South Florida Scientist, academic, teacher, administrator. Trained to evaluate and ask the right questions.
Bureau Chief of Fisheries USVI Dept. of Planning & Natural Resources, Division of Fish & Wildlife Understands what's working and what isn't in the GVI.
Professor of Oceanography University of the Virgin Islands Built research programs to expand opportunities.
Systems Thinker and Scientist NSF-funded research at UVI Developing better Food, Energy & Water Systems for the Territory.

The Platform

Smarter policy. Stronger communities. Better quality of life.

Five Pillars. Each stands as a commitment of where Sennai will improve our communities.

Make Government Work

Government should serve people, not paperwork.

  • Improve government systems and infrastructure so agencies can actually deliver.
  • Build systems that allow accountability, better coordination, and better service.
  • Reduce the bureaucracy! Revise legislation so we have a V.I. Code that is functional and flexible enough to meet modern needs.
  • Make our agencies ready for the challenges we face in the future.

Protect Our Resources

Decisions about our resources belong with people trained to evaluate them, not at the Legislature.

  • Revise the V.I. Code to give resource agencies real capacity, structure, and autonomy.
  • Review and revise fees, licenses, and the enforcement ability of local agencies.
  • Pass legislation to enact the key policies recommended in DPNR's Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan.
  • End spot zoning by the Legislature. Zoning should be decided by planners, not legislators.

Economic Diversification & Workforce Development

We can do both: strengthen tourism and open new sectors for Virgin Islanders.

  • Infrastructure for agriculture, the blue economy, renewable energy, manufacturing, and other new sectors should not always have to take a back seat to construction and tourism.
  • Create programs that incubate, build, and support new sectors.
  • Develop workforce education programs, so that we are building the workforce for the future.
  • Less reactive policy. Identify the sectors we need, and create the programs to build the workforce for them.

Create Opportunity Here at Home

Resilient infrastructure and coordinated systems across government to improve daily life for Virgin Islanders.

  • Hospitals, utilities, and government buildings need a coordinated approach to infrastructure maintenance and development.
  • Develop coordinated, systemic approaches to governance, not reactionary policy:
    • Food, Energy, Water; Transportation, Business, Industry; Administration, IT, Data Management; Education, Workforce, Training; Health, Social and Human Services.
    • These require coordinated, planned, and organized approaches to meet the challenges of the 21st century, not reactive one-off individual agency responses.
  • This can only be done with a clear, prioritized system of legislation to improve the function of our government:
    • Phased systemic approaches, clear and accountable evaluation metrics, and a flexible approach to ensure programs achieve results.

Evidence, Not Guesswork

We can't build better policy without better practice.

  • Use science and evidence-based practice to identify the right problems.
  • Build the right solutions for our communities.
  • Create targeted policy with flexible approaches.
  • Have clear metrics to track results, and adjust approaches when the evidence says to.

Proven Results

Proven Results, Not PromisesWork Already Done

Sennai is a proven leader on these issues. His administrative leadership has led to clear beneficial outcomes for the USVI, and programs still running today.

Wrote the rules

Sennai has experience writing rules and regulations. At DPNR he helped develop the recreational fishing rules and regulations, and the rules for permitting and siting aquaculture. This type of policy is the regulatory groundwork that new industries are built on. Legislative Experience

Built the framework

Advised and assisted the V.I. Aquaculture Commission and helped develop the five-year plan to grow aquaculture in the Territory. He led the development of the first recreational fishing licensing platform in a U.S. Territory. He continues to build, revise, and establish the infrastructure that makes programs developed through regulation a reality. Infrastructure

Brought resources home

His work in the Territory has always been 100% federally funded. He knows how to bring in funding to develop innovative programs that serve the Territory, whether it was funding for fisheries programs at DPNR or his work on an NSF-funded National Research Traineeship on Food, Energy & Water Systems at UVI. Sennai knows how to work with academic, industry, and government partners to grow the programs the Territory needs. Partnerships

Get Involved

Join the campaign.

VolunteerKnock on doors, staff events, or lend your skills to the campaign: design, data management, communications, or policy. We can use you!
Host a conversationInvite Sennai to meet your family, your business, your church group, or your neighborhood.
Spread the wordTake a sign, wear a shirt, and tell your people why this one matters.

Collaborate with us to build a better future for the USVI.

Contact

Reach out.

We read everything that comes in, and we answer.

Web
www.sennai4senate.com

District
St. Thomas & St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

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