General elections were held in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, to elect the officials of the Puerto Rican government to serve from January 2017 to January 2021, most notably the

Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico () is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. Elected to a 4 year-term through popular vote by the residents of the archipelago and island, ...

Ricardo Rosselló Ricardo Antonio Rosselló Nevares (; born March 7, 1979) is an American former politician, businessman, neurobiologist and educator. He served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 2017 until his resignation in 2019. In 2021, he returned to active ...

was elected governor and

Jenniffer González-Colón Jenniffer González Colón (born August 5, 1976) is a Puerto Rican politician who is currently serving as the governor of Puerto Rico since 2025. She previously served as the 20th resident commissioner of Puerto Rico from 2017 to 2025. Gonzále ...

was elected Resident Commissioner. The elections saw a 23 percentage point drop in turnout and was the lowest voter turnout in Puerto Rican history. Rossello would go on to serve a two-year term, having to resign on August 2, 2019, after protests as a result of 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.

Wanda Vázquez Garced Wanda Emilia Vázquez Garced (born July 9, 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as the 188th Governor of Puerto Rico from 2019 to 2021. Prior to her tenure as governor, she served as the 19th Secretary of Justice from 2 ...

succeeded Rossello.

Candidates

Nominations

Before the election year, the

Constitution of Puerto Rico The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico () is the primary organizing law for the unincorporated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of Puerto Rico in nine art ...

provides for any qualified person to present their candidacy for a specific position. If two or more candidates from the same party present their candidacy for the same position, and they can't reach an agreement within the party, a

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

is held. This election is held within the inscribed members of each party, to select which of the candidates will represent the party in the general election. Both of the main parties: New Progressive Party (PNP) and Popular Democratic Party (PPD), held primaries for several positions on June 5, 2016.

New Progressive Party (PNP)

The primaries were held on June 5, 2016, to determine candidates for

, 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 ...

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

, and others. In the race to be the party's gubernatorial candidate,

defeated Resident Commissioner

Pedro Pierluisi Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia (born April 26, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the Governor of Puerto Rico from 2021 to 2025, having previously been the de facto governor from August 2–7, 2019. A member of New P ...

Popular Democratic Party (PPD)

The primaries were held on June 5, 2016, to determine several candidates for the

, and others.

Minor parties

Two minor parties officialized their gubernatorial candidates. The Working People's Party (PPT) nominated Rafael Bernabe once again. The

Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party (, 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 ideology are usually called ''independentist ...

(PIP) nominated

María de Lourdes Santiago Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

Independents

Two independent candidates expressed their interest in running for Governor: * Alexandra Lúgaro, attorney *

Manuel Cidre Manuel Cidre Miranda (born 1953) is a Cuban-born Puerto Rican businessman and politician who currently serves as the 7th Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce of Puerto Rico since 2021, under governor Pedro Pierluisi. On December 1, ...

, businessman

Governor

The official candidates for the position of

are: *

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 ...

(PIP) * Rafael Bernabe Riefkohl, Working People's Party of Puerto Rico (PPT) * Alexandra Lúgaro, Independent candidate *

, Independent candidate

Alejandro García Padilla Alejandro Javier García Padilla (; born August 3, 1971) is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2013 to 2017. Prior to this position, García Padilla held various roles in the political lan ...

, the incumbent governor declined to run for re-election.

Resident commissioner

The resident commissioner of Puerto Rico is the only member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected every four years instead of a two-year term. The resident commissioner and gubernatorial candidates run together as a ticket, like a governor/lieutenant governor ticket would run in the other states, but there are still separate general elections for each position. The official candidates for the position of Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico are: *

Héctor Ferrer Héctor Jose Ferrer Ríos (March 27, 1970 – November 5, 2018) was a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican politician and lawyer, attorney. He served as a legislator in the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2012 for three consecut ...

, Popular Democratic Party (PPD) * Jenniffer González, New Progressive Party (PNP) * Hugo Rodríguez,

(PIP) * Mariana Nogales, Working People's Party of Puerto Rico (PPT)

Senate of Puerto Rico

At-large

The ballot featured sixteen (16) candidates from four different parties and one independent candidate (bold denotes incumbent candidates)

District

House of Representatives

At-large

The ballot featured sixteen (16) candidates from four different parties (bold denotes incumbent candidates)

Results

Governor

The candidate from the New Progressive Party (PNP) Ricky Rosselló beat the candidate from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD)

obtaining 42% of the votes against 39% for Bernier. Most notably, the two independent candidates – Alexandra Lúgaro and

– managed to arrive in third and fourth place with 11% and 6% respectively. For the fourth election in a row, the candidate of the

(PIP) failed to receive the required 3% of the votes to remain registered. The same result happened to Rafael Bernabe from the Working People's Party (PPT) for the second election in a row. It was the first time since

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

that one of the two main parties received less than 40% of the vote and the first time since

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

that a third-party candidate received more than 10% of the vote.

Resident Commissioner

Senate

The numbers of legislators in this senate increased from 27 to 30, because the PNP won 21 of the 27 seats in contention, surpassing the two-thirds limit (18 seats). This automatically triggered

Article Three of the Constitution of Puerto Rico The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico () is the primary organizing law for the unincorporated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of Puerto Rico in nine arti ...

which mandates that in such case new seats must be open for minority legislators. These new seats account for the number of seats the majority party surpassed (three seats in this election).

House of Representatives

Mayors

Despite losing most of the Senate and the House, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) managed to win a majority of the mayoralty races in the island, with a total of 45 out of 78 municipalities. The New Progressive Party (PNP) won a total of 33.

References

{{2016 United States elections

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

General elections in Puerto Rico

United States House of Representatives elections in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico gubernatorial elections