The March 6 Republican Puerto Rico presidential primary ballot has pictures of all the candidates. Thanks to Juan Jose Nolla for this sample ballot. Democrats don’t have a presidential primary in Puerto Rico this year.
The March 6 Republican Puerto Rico presidential primary ballot has pictures of all the candidates. Thanks to Juan Jose Nolla for this sample ballot. Democrats don’t have a presidential primary in Puerto Rico this year.
Richard, very interesting! I wonder if the campaigns picked the photos if they were just pulled from the Internet. Marco Rubio looks like a giant next to Ted Cruz.
Related question — any idea why the Puerto Rico GOP primary always seems to favor one candidate by a huge margin? They always seem to go for the “establishment” candidate extremely heavily.
I always wondered if the ballots were slanted or if party bosses had some other way of swinging voters en masse. In 2012, Romney beat Santorum 85%-10% despite the fact that PR is majority Catholic. Bush beat McCain in 2000 by 95%-5%, even though the two were probably about even in terms of delegates up to that point in the race.
Those are good questions. I don’t know.
In Puerto Rico GOP primaries, the principal issue to voters has been which candidate has talked the loudest about supporting making Puerto Rico the 51st state.
The ballots per se are not slanted to favor a candidate over the others, as the ballot positions are always chosen by lottery.
As to why the winner in Puerto Rico has always won with such a high percent, over 90%, I have a theory.
In 1980, the party establishment was supporting Senator Howard Baker (after Governor Ronald Reagan decided to skip the primary). George HW Bush came to Puerto Rico and campaigned intensely, visiting many parts of the island. His son Jeb visited many parts of Puerto Rico on behalf of his father. Also, Bush’s slogan in Puerto Rico was “Estadidad Ahora!” (“Statehood Now!”). He won the primary with 68%. The only other candidates to visit PR were Howard Baker, John Connally, and Bejnamin Fernandez. The 1980 Puerto Rico primary was held on February 17, 1980 (which coincided with former Governor’s Luis A. Ferre’s birthday), two days before the New Hampshire primary.
In 1988, both Vice President George H.W. Bush and Senator Bob Dole campaigned heavily. But, by the time Puerto Rico voted, on March 20, 1988, the race had been decided. This was a few days after Super Tuesday in which VP Bush won all states and took a commanding lead in the delegate race. Dole’s supporters deserted him because it seemed like a lost cause to vote for him, and he actually dropped out of the race a few days later.
In 1992, the Puerto Rico GOP wanted to show great support for President Bush, to thank him for having supported Statehood for Puerto Rico. There was no real race here as the only other names placed on the ballot, Buchanan and Duke, were Statehood opponents. Over 250,000 people voted and President Bush got 99% of the vote. Both Buchanan and Duke got a little over 900 votes each.
In 1996, the Puerto Rico GOP establishment endorsed Senator Dole, and no other candidate actually campaigned in the island. I think Senator Phil Gramm came for a fundraiser, but did not campaign. I filed to appear on the ballot as candidate for delegate supporting Steve Forbes, but since he did not make any statement on Puerto Rico, he only got a little over 1,000 votes.
Dole won with 97 or 98 percent of the vote.
In 2000, Puerto Rico’s Republicans voted heavily for Governor George W. Bush, mostly because of support for his father. I filed a full slate (14 delegates and 14 alternates) in support of Steve Forbes, and John McCain filed a slate of delegates (but no alternates). But, by the time of the Puerto Rico primary, Fobres had dropped out of the race. McCain did not make any real effort in Puerto Rico, though he did win a few precincts in the municipality of Yauco, because he had the endorsement there of the pro-statehood party candidate for mayor in that municipality.
In 2012, Mitt Romney was endorsed by Governor Luis Fortuno, and he came to the island the day before the primary. Romney fully endorsed making Puerto Rico the 51st state at a rally in which he was introduced to the crowd by Governor Fortuno. Senator Santorum came to Puerto Rico, but did not make a strong statement in favor of making Puerto Rico the 51st state. Gingrich sent his daughter to campaign for him, a few days before the primary, and Ron Paul had some supporters in college campuses. But, because Rommney was seen as the governor’s candidate, he won over 90% of the vote.
I am voting absentee and would like to see picture and some information of each. Candidate if possible. Thank you