Puerto Rico Primary Facts and Figures
The Puerto Rico Democratic primary is June 1, 2008; 55 delegates will be allocated based on the results. The Republican primary was held Feb. 24, 2008.
Presidential Primary Winners
Democrats
- 1988: Jesse Jackson
- 1992: Bill Clinton
- 1996: The Democratic primary scheduled for March 10, 1996, was not held as Bill Clinton was the only candidate who qualified for the ballot.
- 2000: In Puerto Rico, the Democratic Party opted to hold a caucus instead of a primary election but subsequently canceled the caucus. The nominees were known well before the scheduled date.
- 2004: Democrats planned to hold a caucus, but it was canceled. The nominees were known well before the scheduled date.
Republicans
- 1988: George H.W. Bush
- 1992: George H.W. Bush
- 1996: Bob Dole
- 2000: George W. Bush
- 2004: Republicans planned to hold a caucus, but it was canceled. The nominees were known well before the scheduled date.
3 Things You Didn't Know About Puerto Rico Primaries
1. Puerto Rico's Democrats were originally scheduled to caucus on June 1; only after the national committee approved the plan, it was discovered that an official document listed June 7, as a result of a typo, instead of the intended date, June 1.
2. The decision to hold a primary instead of a caucus was made in early March 2008 in an attempt to increase participation and to encourage the candidates to campaign in Puerto Rico. With a voter turnout rate of 81.4% in Puerto Rico's 2004 general election for governor among other islandwide positions, Puerto Rico has among the highest voter participation records in the world.
3. The U.S. Electoral College system does not allow residents of territories, including Puerto Rico, a self-governing commonwealth, to vote for president. While Puerto Rico has no Electoral College votes, political parties can authorize primaries to allow delegate representation at the parties' conventions.
Sources:
FEC
The Green Papers
Elections in Puerto RicoPuerto Rico Government
U.S. Electoral College
Reader Comments
Puerto Rico
I really need to know facts about puerto rico!please i need your help!
Vendepatrias
I feel every so called "Puerto Rican" who thinks Puerto Rico should be a state is a vendepatria. If you love the USA so much why don't you stop backing Miss Puerto Rico and back Miss USA instead at Miss Universe? Why don't you stop backing the Puerto Rican boxer and go for the American one instead?
I respect your right to feel as you want and I am actually friends with some high profile PNP people who know I am an independentista. However, the truth is the truth and whoever critizises me is hurt by the truth. PNP backers are vendepatrias and not real Puerto Ricans. And guess what? Independence will happen before statehood because if the USA wanted Puerto Rico to become a state, they would have done it already in the 91 years since the Jones act!
I love the USA and live in the USA. And I love American people. But I will never be one of them as shown to me even by the racism I have lived through on my own skin and bones, so do you really think if PR was to become a state that Americans would welcome us with open arms? Hell no! If Puerto Rico becomes a state, I can see KKK going to our COUNTRY, and burning crosses and houses because nobody except short minded PNP's want Puerto Rico and 4 million other Latinos (yes, PNP backers, because your last names are Molina, Rodriguez, Rivera, so you are LATINO) to become part of the USA.
Puerto Rico needs it's independence
I think 110 years of direct colonialism (1898-1951) and 50 plus of a pseudocolonial status called Associated Free State (1952- present) is enough. That is why Puerto Rico is being discussed at the United Nations today, that is why our governor speaks out against colonialism at the Decolonization Comittee at the UN.
I am puerto rican and i think my country , Puerto Rico, needs to stand in it's own two feet and become sovereign, either an Associated Republic like our present governor wants or a fully independent republic. Our economy cannot wait any longer. Plus, the US congress will never have a spanish speaking, latin american nation as a US state, much less with a strong national identity like Puerto Ricans do. They do not want to have a new Quebec or Tibet in their very own country.
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