The Commonwealth does not have a voting member of Congress, but does elect a delegate who can participate in debates with the United States House of Representatives.

On November 4, 2008, the first delegate was elected to the 111th United States Congress which began on January 3, 2009.

From 1978 to 2009, in accordance with the Commonwealth's Constitution, the Northern Mariana Islands elected a Resident Representative in Washington, D.C. who was not considered an official member of Congress.

L. 110–229 (text) (PDF), the Northern Mariana Islands first elected a non-voting delegate to Congress in 2008, replacing the Resident Representative.

Sablan won re-election six times as an independent, but announced in 2021 that he would run as a Democrat for the 2022 election.