2008 Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico primaries

Background

At the time of the primaries, incumbent Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was allegedly being investigated by federal authorities for allegations of irregularities in his campaign finances. However, despite this, the party supported his candidacy for Governor.

Also, one of the most contested campaigns was the one for Mayor of Ponce, with incumbent Francisco Zayas Seijo facing the former administrator of the city, Carlos Jirau.

Candidates

Senate

At-large

• Eduardo Bhatia
• Juan Cancel Alegría
• Víctor de la Cruz
• Landy Fabre
• Antonio Fas Alzamora
• Alejandro García Padilla
• Sila Mari González Calderón
• Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral
• Rafael Irizarri
• Margarita Ostolaza
• Cirilo Tirado Rivera
• Roberto Vigoreaux

District

The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on only 4 of the 8 senatorial districts.

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district III|Arecibo]]

• Wanda Arroyo
• Javier Cruz
• María Elena
• Edgar A. Martínez
• Francis Rivera
• Iván Serrano Cordero

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district IV|Mayagüez-Aguadilla]]

• Robin H. Montes
• Sergio Ortíz
• Omar Soto
• Enid Toro de Báez

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district V|Ponce]]

• Modesto Agosto Alicea
• José Luis Galarza
• Bruno Ramos
• José H. Rivera
• Rafael Santiago

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district VI|Guayama]]

• Luis Guillermo Febus
• Eder Ortíz Ortíz
• Angel M. Rodríguez

House of Representatives

At-large

• Jorge Colberg Toro
• Ulises Dalmau
• Héctor Ferrer
• Brenda López de Arrarás
• Jeanette Miranda
• Julio Muñoz
• Angel Ortíz
• Jaime Perelló
• Coco Ríos
• Frankie Rodríguez
• Ramón Ruíz Nieves
• José Segui
• Luis Vega Ramos
• Carmen Yulín Cruz

District

The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 24 of the 40 representative districts.

District 3

• Ruthy Currás
• Herminio Pagán

District 11

• Ricky Arrillaga
• Rafael Hernández

District 12

• Jorge Avilés
• Eliezer Burgos
• Claudio Ferrer, Jr.
• Remberto Rodríguez

District 13

• Benny Collazo
• Felix Pagán
• Víctor Rodríguez
• Amadis Ulises

District 14

• Vángelo Figueroa
• Felix Rosario
• Juan R. Torres

District 16

• Tony Rodríguez
• Juan Vega Salamanca

District 17

• Moisés Acevedo
• Armando Franco
• Alfredo González
• Héctor Mol Ibañez

District 18

• Luis "Chivita" González
• Concepción Salas
• Solá
• María Vargas

District 20

• Elvin Camacho
• Luis Ramírez
• Jorgito Ramos
• Eduardo Rosado

District 21

• Naida Mateo
• Lydia Méndez Silva
• Rafy Nazario

District 22

• Juan O. Alicea
• Georgie González

District 23

• Wilo Beltrán
• Rafael A. García

District 24

• Ramón Borrero
• Luis Farinacci
• Vilma Flores
• Ferdinand Martínez
• Vangie Rivera

District 25

• Edgar Manolo Avilés
• Jorge Miranda
• Piro Reyes
• Víctor Vassallo

District 26

• John Avilés
• Juan Carlos Figueroa
• Gamalier Pagán

District 27

• Carmen Iris González
• Carlos Luis Torres
• Pito Torres

District 28

• Jorge I. Agosto
• Frankie Cuadrado
• Remesal
• Rosendo
• Luis Santiago

District 29

• Félix Agosto
• Heric Colón
• José R. Varela

District 30

• Rey Alomar
• Eduardo Cintrón
• Migdalia Díaz
• Domingo Torres

District 33

• Héctor Carrasquillo
• Gilbert

District 34

• George Soto
• Juan Pedro

District 35

• Narden Jaime Espinosa
• Ricardo Fernández
• Freddy
• José Pi Báez
• José "Tony" Reyes
• Valentín Valdés
• William Vázquez

District 36

• Ricky Abreu
• Andújar

District 37

• José Miguel del Valle, Jr.
• Frankie Guerra

Mayors

The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 23 of 78 municipalities.

[[Arecibo, Puerto Rico|Arecibo]]

• Ramón E. Dasta
• Héctor Rafael

[[Arroyo, Puerto Rico|Arroyo]]

• Eric Bachier Román
• Ricardo Rivera

[[Canóvanas, Puerto Rico|Canóvanas]]

• Moisés Castro
• Jesús Rosado

[[Cataño, Puerto Rico|Cataño]]

• Félix Fuentes
• José Rosario

[[Ceiba, Puerto Rico|Ceiba]]

• Gilberto "Lex" Camacho
• Humberto González
• Abimael Portalatín

[[Culebra, Puerto Rico|Culebra]]

• Alexis Bermúdez
• Digna Feliciana

[[Fajardo, Puerto Rico|Fajardo]]

• Myrna García
• Norma Guzmán

[[Florida, Puerto Rico|Florida]]

• Johnny de León
• Yonatan

[[Humacao, Puerto Rico|Humacao]]

• Joel Rosario
• Marcelo Trujillo

[[Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico|Juana Díaz]]

• Luis Angel Cortés
• Ramón Hernández Torres

[[Lajas, Puerto Rico|Lajas]]

• César Corales
• Marcos "Turin" Irizarry
• Ambrosio Rodríguez

[[Lares, Puerto Rico|Lares]]

• Chely
• Rigo Guilloty

[[Las Marías, Puerto Rico|Las Marías]]

• Reinaldo González
• José Javier Rodríguez

[[Las Piedras, Puerto Rico|Las Piedras]]

• Nelson Vázquez
• Roberto Velázquez

[[Loíza, Puerto Rico|Loíza]]

• Julito Osorio
• Maricruz Rivera

[[Moca, Puerto Rico|Moca]]

• Wilson Acevedo
• Aida E. González

[[Naranjito, Puerto Rico|Naranjito]]

• Manuel Martínez
• Moncho Padilla
• Víctor Manuel Pérez
• Cheo Rivera
• Jolly Rivera

[[Ponce, Puerto Rico|Ponce]]

• Carlos Jirau
• Francisco Zayas Seijo

[[Rincón, Puerto Rico|Rincón]]

• Juan D. Elías
• Carlos López Bonilla

[[Salinas, Puerto Rico|Salinas]]

• Tony Badé
• Francisco Colón
• Abraham López
• Pedro Santos

[[Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico|Trujillo Alto]]

• José Luis Cruz Cruz
• Hiram

[[Utuado, Puerto Rico|Utuado]]

• Jesús Arce
• Ramón Collazo
• Martín Negrón
• Otilio Plaza
• Quitín

[[Vieques, Puerto Rico|Vieques]]

• Víctor Emeric
• Dámaso Serrano

Results

Senate

At-large

District

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district III|Arecibo]]

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district IV|Mayagüez-Aguadilla]]

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district V|Ponce]]

[[Puerto Rico Senatorial district VI|Guayama]]

House of Representatives

At-large

District

District 1

District 4

District 5

District 6

District 8

District 10

District 11

District 14

District 15

District 16

District 17

District 18

District 20

District 21

District 23

District 24

District 26

District 28

District 31

District 32

District 33

District 34

District 35

District 36

District 37

District 38

District 39

District 40

--

Aftermath

Acevedo Vilá's candidacy

Several weeks after the primaries, Incumbent Governor and PPD candidate, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, was officially indicted on 19 counts of campaign finance violations. This put his candidacy in jeopardy, and several candidates where taunted as possible replacements. However, Acevedo Vilá decided to run for reelection, and was openly endorsed by the Party in a massive caucus held at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in April 2008. Acevedo Vilá would lose the 2008 general elections. However, in March 2009, he was found not guilty of all charges by a jury.

Split in Ponce

In the primary for the Mayor of Ponce, incumbent Francisco Zayas Seijo narrowly beat his opponent, former Ponce administrator, Carlos Jirau. Zayas beat Jirau by less than 30 votes. After the defeat, Jirau appealed the primary claiming there were irregularities in the process. He also started an independent movement called Movimiento Autónomo Ponceño. At the 2008 general elections, both Zayas and Jirau were defeated by the PNP candidate Mayita Meléndez. This was the first time a PNP candidate had won in Ponce in more than 20 years.

References

References

1. [http://www.primerahora.com/asamblearatificacandidaturadelgobernador-184022.html Asamblea ratifica candidatura del Gobernador] on ''[[Primera Hora (Puerto Rico). Primera Hora]]''; Rivera, Manuel (April 27, 2008)
2. [https://www.adendi.com/archivo.asp?Xnum=397583&year=2008&mon=4 No se quita] on ''[[El Nuevo Día]]''; Associated Press (April 27, 2008)
3. link. (2016-03-04 on CEEPUR)
4. [http://www.elnuevodia.com/Xstatic/endi/template/imprimir.aspx?id=403916&t=3 Ico Zayas: "la bola esta en la cancha de Jirau"] on ''[[El Nuevo Día]]'' (May 12, 2008)
5. [http://www.primerahora.com/icoletiraamayitaypideunidadajirau-225189.html "Ico" le tira a "Mayita" y pide unidad a Jirau] on ''[[Primera Hora (Puerto Rico). Primera Hora]]''; Estrada, Michelle (August 29, 2008)
6. [http://www.elnuevodia.com/Xstatic/endi/template/imprimir.aspx?id=485453&t=3 “Mayita no ganó, Ico Zayas perdió”] on ''[[El Nuevo Día]]'' (November 6, 2008)