Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia (born April 26, 1959) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer currently serving as

governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico ( es, gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor has a duty to enforce local laws, to co ...

. He has previously served as Secretary of Justice,

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 ...

, acting Secretary of State, interim governor of Puerto Rico and as private attorney for Puerto Rico's fiscal oversight board under the

Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) is a U.S. federal law enacted in 2016 that established a financial oversight board, a process for restructuring debt, and expedited procedures for approving critical in ...

Early life and education

Pierluisi was born on April 26, 1959, in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

. His parents are Jorge Pierluisi Díaz and Doris Urrutia. He attended

Colegio Marista Guaynabo Colegio Marista de Guaynabo is a private Roman Catholic school in Puerto Rico conducted by the Marist Brothers. It is one of the many Marist schools that take place within 80 countries around the world, being this one the first one to be locate ...

Guaynabo Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is sprea ...

, graduating in 1977. In 1981, he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in

American History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densel ...

from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

, and later earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree from

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of co ...

in 1984. He was President of the

Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association The Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association (PRSSA) es, Asociación de Estudiantes Estadistas de Puerto Rico is a Puerto Rican non-profit student organization dedicated to promoting statehood for Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1979, and ...

chapter at Tulane University. During his studies at George Washington University, Pierluisi interned at the congressional office of then-

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 ...

Baltasar Corrada del Río Baltasar Corrada del Río (April 10, 1935 – March 11, 2018) was a Puerto Rican politician. He held various high political offices in the island, including President of the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission, Resident Commissioner (1977–19 ...

Early political career

He practiced law in Puerto Rico from 1990 until 1993. In 1993, Governor Pedro Rossello nominated Pierluisi to serve as Puerto Rico's Secretary of Justice. His nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Puerto Rican legislature.

U.S. House of Representatives

On May 18, 2007, Pierluisi announced his candidacy for

, Puerto Rico's sole delegate to the United States Congress in the November 2008 elections. He accompanied then current Resident Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Luis Fortuño in the March 9, 2008 NPP primary ticket. Pierluisi is a member of the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico which advocates statehood for the Island territory. While on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

, Pierluisi caucused with the

House Democratic Caucus The House Democratic Caucus is a congressional caucus composed of all Democratic Representatives in the United States House of Representatives and is responsible for nominating and electing the Democratic Party leadership in the chamber. In its ...

.Newlin, Eliza
Res. Com. Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR, At-Large) – The Almanac of American Politics
Nationaljournal.com. Retrieved on 2012-11-22. As Resident Commissioner, Pierluisi introduced H.R. 2499, which sought to provide for a

plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...

to be held in Puerto Rico to determine the island's ultimate political status. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives but did not receive a vote in 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 ...

, and lapsed following the

sine die adjournment Adjournment ''sine die'' (from Latin "without a day") is the conclusion of a meeting by a deliberative assembly, such as a legislature or organizational board, without setting a day to reconvene. The assembly can reconvene, either in its pre ...

of the 111th Congress. In a separate bill, H.R. 870, Pierluisi sought to add Puerto Rico to Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code so that the island's government-owned corporations could file for bankruptcy — a privilege they do not enjoy due to the territory's exclusion from the code. On May 15, 2013, Pierluisi filed H.R. 2000, a bill to admit Puerto Rico as a state.

Rosselló succession

In late July 2019 the embattled governor,

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 ...

, nominated Pierluisi to serve as Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. He was additionally sworn into the role as a recess appointment. Rosselló then summoned Puerto Rico's Legislative Assembly for them to issue their advice and consent. The House of Representatives approved his nomination 26–21. However, the following day, members of the Puerto Rican Senate announced that action on his nomination would not occur until August 1. When Rosselló resigned on August 2, he declared Pierluisi to be governor although he had not been confirmed by both the House and the Senate as secretary of state, and Pierluisi affirmed Rosselló's declaration. Pierluisi's accession to the governorship was challenged in the courts as being unconstitutional. On August 5, the Puerto Rico Senate filed a lawsuit against his appointment as governor by contending that unless he obtained the Senate's assent, his governorship was unconstitutional. Two days later, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruled that the law that enabled his swearing in was unconstitutional and ordered that the succession take place per Law 7 of 1952, as opposed to Law 7 of 2005.

2020 elections

On August 16, 2020, Pierluisi won the PNP gubernatorial primary race against governor Wanda Vázquez Garced. With 75.6% of voting stations reporting, Pierluisi has won about 57.9% of the votes over Vazquez's 42.1%, clinching the nomination for New Progressive Party. On November 3, 2020, Pierluisi was elected as the Governor of Puerto Rico. He received approximately 32.9% of all the votes, distributed among 6 candidates that ran for office. On Saturday, January 2, 2021, Pierluisi took the oath of office. At 8:00 a.m., there was a private ceremony in which he took the oath from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Maite Oronoz Rodríguez. This was followed by a public ceremony on the northern side of the Capitol of Puerto Rico, where Pierluisi retook the oath of office publicly and gave his inaugural address.

Personal life

Governor Pierluisi is the father of four adult children and the grandfather of five grandchildren. His first marriage was to María Eugenia Rojo, with whom he shares his four children. They divorced in the late 1990s. In 2019, after twelve years of marriage, he and his ex-wife María Elena Carrión divorced. The Governor is currently single. Pierluisi's father, Jorge Pierluisi, served as Secretary of Puerto Rico's Housing Department under Gov.

Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...

from 1977 to 1985. His brother,

José Jaime Pierluisi José Jaime Pierluisi (June 12, 1965 – June 7, 1994) was an economic adviser to Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Rosselló from 1993 until his death during a carjacking on June 7, 1994. His brother, Pedro Pierluisi, is the current governor of Puert ...

, an economic adviser to then governor Pedro Rossello, was shot and killed during a carjacking in 1994.

Honors

* : Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic

Notes

References

External links

*
Congressman Pedro Pierluisi
''official U.S. House website''
Pedro Pierluisi for Congress
(Spanish) ''official campaign website'' * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierluisi Urrutia, Pedro Rafael 1959 births Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Puerto Rico Democratic Party governors of Puerto Rico George Washington University Law School alumni Governors of Puerto Rico Living people New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Presidents of the New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico) Puerto Rican lawyers Puerto Rican party leaders Puerto Rican Roman Catholics Statehood movement in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association alumni Resident Commissioners of Puerto Rico Secretaries of Justice of Puerto Rico Secretaries of State of Puerto Rico Tulane University alumni 21st-century Puerto Rican politicians 20th-century Puerto Rican politicians Puerto Rican people of Corsican descent