Amata Coleman Radewagen

Who is Amata Coleman Radewagen?

Amata Coleman Radewagen is an American Samoan politician who has served as the territory's non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives since 2015. She is the daughter of Peter Tali Coleman, the pioneering Samoan Governor of American Samoa, and grew up immersed in the territory's political life before building her own career in public service and Republican Party politics. She previously worked in the office of an earlier American Samoa Delegate and held various roles within territorial and national Republican organizations before winning election to Congress herself. As Delegate, she has worked on issues affecting American Samoa including federal funding, minimum wage policy for the territory's tuna canning industry, environmental protections for Pacific fisheries, and expanded federal recognition of the territory's unique constitutional status. Radewagen made history as the first Republican woman elected to Congress from a U.S. territory and one of the few women of Pacific Islander descent to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She continues to represent American Samoa in Washington, D.C., while remaining active in preserving and promoting fa'a Samoa culture and language among the territory's communities both at home and in the diaspora.

Sources: U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian — Radewagen, Amata Coleman, biographical directory · Official website of the Delegate for American Samoa, U.S. House of Representatives