Gubernatorial elections were held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, to elect the governor of Puerto Rico, concurrently with the election of the Resident Commissioner, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the mayors of the 78 municipalities, as well as the election events of a status referendum and a presidential straw poll. As a candidate in the 2024 general elections, the winner was elected to serve a four-year term from January 2, 2025 to January 2, 2029.
Two parties filed to hold a primary election: the New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party. Incumbent New Progressive Party Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia ran for re-election to a second term in office, but lost the PNP primary to Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon. The Popular Democratic Party nominated Jesús Manuel OrtÃÂz, a member of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Independence Party and Citizens' Victory Movement formed an electoral alliance, with both parties agreeing to support former member of the Senate of Puerto Rico, Juan Dalmau. However, since all registered parties are required to nominate a candidate for governor, Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana nominated dummy candidate Javier Córdova Iturregui. Project Dignity nominated San Sebastián mayor Javier Jiménez.
González Colón ultimately won the general election. This was the first Puerto Rico gubernatorial election since 1952 in which a candidate from the Independence Party finished second in a gubernatorial race, the first time since 1964 in which the incumbent governing party was re-elected after two terms in office, and the second time Puerto Rico has elected a female governor. This election also saw the Popular Democratic Party lose control of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico and finish third for the first time in its entire history in a gubernatorial election, albeit retaining a majority of mayoral races and flipping the office of Resident Commissioner.
On March 20, 2022, during the New Progressive Party's general assembly, governor Pedro Pierluisi announced that he would run for a second term. In an interview on August 28, he reaffirmed the press that he would be in fact running again, stating that "Puerto Rico is moving forward and there is no one who can stop us" and that they were "going to beat the PDP". Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón won the primary against Governor Pierluisi, becoming the first-ever female gubernatorial nominee for the New Progressive Party.
After suffering defeat in the 2020 elections, the Popular Democratic Party suffered a major divide on opinions, from the topic of abortion to what political status should the party pursue in the case of an 8th plebiscite. Some like the former party president José Luis Dalmau say that the party should keep supporting the current political status (ELA), while others within the party like former territorial senator Marco Rigau Jiménez stated that the party should move towards Free Association.
On June 16, 2022, while criticizing the party president José Dalmau, Morovis mayor Carmen Maldonado González challenged him, and announced that she would be running for governor. Later, on October 17, she officialized her candidacy in a press conference. Afterward, on January 18, 2023, she stated that she would run for president of the party. On May 7, after coming last on the presidency election, she conceded and announced that she would instead be running for re-election.
Territorial senator Juan Zaragoza Gómez announced his candidacy for governor during a press conference on September 13, 2022, saying that "If God gives me health, I'm going there". Zaragoza previously had announced that he would run for governor in the 2020 primary, before withdrawing his candidacy to run as territorial senator at-large.
The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and Citizens' Victory Movement (MVC) have formed an alliance for the 2024 elections. MVC has agreed to support PIP's nominee, Juan Dalmau RamÃÂrez. However, Puerto Rico law requires all parties to nominate a candidate for governor, so MVC nominated Javier Córdova Iturregui as a placeholder candidate.
Ada Norah Henriquez, who ran for resident commissioner in 2020, announced on 23 May 2023, while on the La Trinchera podcast that "we are going to aspire for the executive."
César Vázquez Muñiz, the president of the party and the nominee for governor in 2020, announced on 27 May 2023, while at a protest asking for the resignation of the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico Domingo Emanuelli, that he would be running again for governor, stating that "What you see is not asked". He later dropped out to run for territorial senate in the Bayamón district.
Javier Jiménez Pérez, mayor of San Sebastián del Pepino, who switched to Proyecto Dignidad earlier, announced his intention to run. This was further confirmed by a party assembly that certified the party will hold primaries to select the candidate.
Henriquez announced in December 2023 that she would run as an independent, leaving Jiménez as the only candidate seeking the PD nomination.
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