254
Opinion of the Court
48 U. S. C. § 1712, which provides that a candidate for Guam's Delegate to Congress must receive "a majority of the votes cast for the office of Delegate" in order to be elected. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that Congress could have used similar language of limitation if it had intended the election of a Governor and Lieutenant Governor to require only a majority of votes cast for gubernatorial slates. 179 F. 3d, at 678. The Ninth Circuit stayed its mandate pending disposition of petitioners' petition for a writ of certiorari.
We granted certiorari, 527 U. S. 1063 (1999), to resolve a split between the Ninth Circuit's interpretation of the Organic Act of Guam and the Third Circuit's reading of identical language in the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands. See 68 Stat. 503, as amended, 48 U. S. C. § 1591 (providing for a runoff election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the Virgin Islands "[i]f no candidates receive a majority of the votes cast in any election"); Todman v. Boschulte, 694 F. 2d 939 (CA3 1982). We reverse.
II
The key to understanding what the phrase "in any election" means is also the most salient feature of the provision in which it occurs. The section contains six express references to an election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor: "The Governor of Guam, together with the Lieutenant Governor, shall be elected . . ."; "[t]he Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be chosen jointly, by the casting by each voter of a single vote . . ."; "a runoff election shall be held between the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor . . ."; "[t]he first election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be held . . ."; "the Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected every four years . . ."; "[t]he Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall hold office . . . until their successors are elected . . . ." 48 U. S. C. § 1422. The reference to "any election" is preceded by two references to gubernatorial election and followed by four. With "any election" so
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