The 2020 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, concurrently with the election of the

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such ...

, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, and the

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities ...

of the 78 municipalities. Incumbent New Progressive Party Governor

Wanda Vázquez Garced Wanda Emilia Vázquez Garced (born July 9, 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 2019 to 2021. Prior to her tenure as governor, she served as the 19th secretary of Justice, from 2017 to 20 ...

, who succeeded to the governorship on August 7, 2019, was eligible to run for a full term in office, which she announced on December 16, 2019. However, Vázquez Garced lost her bid when former Resident Commissioner

Pedro Pierluisi Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia (born April 26, 1959) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer currently serving as governor of Puerto Rico. He has previously served as Secretary of Justice, Resident Commissioner, acting Secretary of State, i ...

won the New Progressive Party membership vote on the nomination for governor. Pierluisi ultimately won the election on November 3, 2020, albeit by a narrow margin of 1.37%. As a result, this election was the closest race of the 2020 gubernatorial election cycle. Pierlusi's winning 32.93% of the vote was the lowest obtained by a successful gubernatorial candidate in Puerto Rico since the first direct election in 1948.

Electoral system

The Governor of Puerto Rico is elected via

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

New Progressive Party

On March 3, 2019,

Ricardo Rosselló Ricardo Antonio Rosselló Nevares (; born March 7, 1979) is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2017 to 2019. He resigned on August 2, 2019, after protests related to the Telegramgate scandal. He is the s ...

announced he would seek

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

as governor in the 2020 elections; however, following the

Telegramgate Telegramgate, also known as Chatgate or RickyLeaks, was a political scandal involving Ricardo Rosselló, then Governor of Puerto Rico, which began on July 8, 2019, with the leak of hundreds of pages of a group chat on the messaging application ...

scandal and subsequent protests in front of ''

La Fortaleza La Fortaleza (lit., "The Fortress" ) is the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico. It was built between 1533 and 1540 to defend the harbor of San Juan. The structure is also known as Palacio de Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine's Pala ...

,'' Rosselló announced on July 21, 2019, that he would withdraw his bid for re-election. Shortly thereafter, on August 2, he resigned as governor. On September 9, 2019,

, who served briefly as de facto governor following Rosselló's resignation, announced he would seek the PNP nomination for governor for the 2020 elections. On December 19, 2019, Governor

, who was elevated to governor on August 7, 2019, after Pierluisi's appointment was deemed unconstitutional, announced her intention to seek re-election to a full term as governor. On August 16, 2020, in an extended primary process marred by troubles delivering ballots to polling places for the original primary date of August 9, Pierluisi defeated Vázquez Garced.

Candidates

Nominated

, former

Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico The resident commissioner of Puerto Rico () is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives elected by the voters of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico every four years, the only member of the House of Representatives ...

Eliminated in primary

, incumbent Governor

Withdrawn

, former

Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico ( es, gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor has a duty ...

Iván González Cancel Iván F. González Cancel is a cardiovascular and heart transplant surgeon credited for having performed the first heart transplant surgery in Puerto Rico. Early life He was born in 1960 in municipality of Utuado, Puerto Rico. He lived in Utua ...

, former

Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico The Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico ( es, Secretario de Salud de Puerto Rico) leads the Department of Health of Puerto Rico and all efforts related to health in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), ...

and PNP candidate for the 2012 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election

Polling

Results

Popular Democratic Party

After the defeat of Popular Democratic candidate

David Bernier David Enrique "Quique" Bernier Rivera (; born January 21, 1977) is a Puerto Rican dentist and politician that has served in various roles in public service in Puerto Rico. Bernier first served as executive director of the Office of Youth ...

in the 2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial elections, the party was mostly divided in opinions on how to move forward to the 2020 elections. While many in the party wanted to keep going with the same ideology of the Free Associated State,

Carmen Yulín Cruz Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto (born February 25, 1963) is a Puerto Rican politician who served as mayor of the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico from 2013 to 2020. From 2009 through 2013, Cruz served in the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. Ea ...

expressed a desire to create a new movement in the party, one that would support a free association of

as an independent country from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On August 16, 2020, in an extended primary process marred by troubles delivering ballots to polling places for the original primary date of August 9, Delgado defeated Bhatia and Cruz.

Candidates

Nominated

* Carlos Delgado Altieri, mayor of Isabela

Eliminated in primary

Eduardo Bhatia Eduardo Bhatia Gautier (born May 16, 1964) is a Puerto Rican attorney and politician. Bhatia is a former 15th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico and executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration. Early life and educa ...

, Minority Leader of the Puerto Rico Senate *

mayor of San Juan This is a list of mayors of San Juan, Puerto Rico. List of mayors of San Juan Under the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (6) (5) See also * San Juan City Hall * San Juan government * Timeline of San Juan, Puerto Rico References {{Years ...

, and former member of the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Sen ...

Withdrawn

Roberto Prats Roberto Prats Palerm (born 1966) is a former Senator of Puerto Rico, a lawyer, and a former candidate for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the elections of 2004. He is affiliated and a member of the Governing Board of the Popular Democr ...

, former member of the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control th ...

* Juan Zaragoza, former

Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico The Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico (commonly known as the Treasurer of Puerto Rico) is the chief financial officer and the treasurer of the government of Puerto Rico. Secretaries The following is a list of officeholders: *1917–1922: ...

Polling

Results

Other candidates

Independence Party

On December 27, 2019, the

Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party ( es, Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, PIP) is a social-democratic political party in Puerto Rico that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. Those who follow the PIP ...

(PIP) filed its list of candidates for the general election, including Sen. Juan Dalmau as governor. Dalmau previously ran as the PIP candidate in the 2012 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election.

Nominee

Juan Dalmau Ramírez Juan Manuel Dalmau Ramírez (born July 23, 1973) is a Puerto Rican politician, attorney and a former candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico for the Puerto Rican Independence Party.Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control th ...

Citizens Victory Movement

After the defeat of

Alexandra Lúgaro Alexandra Lúgaro Aponte (born June 10, 1981) is a Puerto Rican attorney, businesswoman, and politician who was a candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico during the 2016 and 2020 elections, finishing in third place both times. In 2016, running as ...

as an independent candidate and Rafael Bernabe as the candidate for the Working People's Party in the

2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election The 2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the Governor of Puerto Rico. The incumbent Popular Democratic Governor Alejandro García Padilla did not run for re-election. The election was won by Ricardo Ross ...

, the two candidates joined with other Puerto Rican politicians in March 2019 to form a new political party called '' Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana'' (Citizen's Victory Movement). On November 19, 2019, Alexandra Lúgaro announced her second run for governor, this time running as the MVC candidate.

Nominee

, businesswoman, lawyer, and 2016 independent candidate for governor.

Project Dignity

Project Dignity Proyecto Dignidad (, PD) is a Puerto Rican political party founded in 2019. In the 2020 general election it ran on a Christian democracy and anti-corruption platform. History Project Dignity was first announced on March 24, 2019. On January ...

was certified as an official party by the CEE (State Commission on Elections) on January 22, 2020. It needed 47,406 petitions of endorsement to be certified, of which it received 47,856. On May 20, 2020, the party announced that Dr. César Vazquez would be their gubernatorial nominee.

Nominee

*César Vázquez,

Cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular hear ...

Independent

On May 5, 2020, the CEE (State Commission on Elections) certified the candidacy of Eliezer Molina after a legal dispute over the amount of endorsements required to ratify his nomination.

Declared

*Eliezer Molina, Agroculturist and

Civil Engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

Polling

;with Pedro Pierluisi ;with Wanda Vázquez

Results

Notes

References

External links

;Official campaign websites
Juan Dalmau (PIP) for Governor

Carlos Delgado Altieri (PPD) for Governor

Eliezer Molina (I) for Governor

Pedro Pierluisi (PNP / D) for Governor
{{Puerto Rican elections

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...