These are the new members of the Senate in Puerto Rico

by

In front of a new government administration in the country, elected lawmakers took the oath today as part of the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly in Puerto Rico.

During the ceremony, about 75 lawmakers were sworn in to compose the country’s new legislature. And despite the fact that the People’s Democratic Party (PPD) won a majority in both legislatures, the Senate is expected to be the scene of a struggle for the absolute leadership of this body. In the upper house, the PPD has 12 seats, so it will need two votes from minority lawmakers to ratify Senator José Luis Dalmau as the new president of the Senate.

The PNP, in turn, has 10 seats in the legislature. While the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC) will have two senators. The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and the Dignity Project (PD) will each have one legislator in the Senate. In turn, independent senator José Vargas Vidot revalidated his legislative seat.

Here are the new members of the Senate of Puerto Rico:

  1. Mary of Lourdes Santiago, PIP: A lawyer. He was the senator elected with the most votes. She was a senator from 2005 to 2009. She was a candidate for governor for PIP in 2016.
  2. Joanne Rodríguez Veve, PD – He’s a canon lawyer. She was elected in her first election aspiration. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Catholic Secular Organization, Alianza Católica Puertorriqueña por la Vida y por la Patria.
  3. William Villafañe, PNP. Lawyer. He was the new progressive senator elected with the highest number of votes. He has already served in the Senate, where he has filled a vacancy in the middle of the last four years. He was secretary of the interior under the administration of Ricardo Rosselló.
  4. Thomas Rivera Schatz, PNP. Lawyer. He has been president of the Senate on two previous occasions. He was president of the PNP, where he was previously general secretary.
  5. Juan Zaragoza, PPD: It is Public accountant. He was the senator elected by the PPD with the highest number of votes. This was his first political aspiration. He was secretary of the treasury under the administration of former governor Alejandro García Padilla.
  6. José Luis Dalmau, PPD. Lawyer and biologist. He was elected as the new president of the Senate by the PPD delegation, although he needs a vote outside the delegation. He was first elected senator in 2000.
  7. José Vargas Vidot, Independent. Health. He was elected the first independent senator in the 2016 elections, when he was elected senator with the highest number of votes. He was known for his work on behalf of the homeless.
  8. Aand Irma Rivera Lassen, MVC. Lawyer and university professor. Feminist activist. She was president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association. He is the senator elected with the highest number of votes in MVC, a political group that he also leads.
  9. Rafael Bernabe, MVC: University professor of economics. He founded the Partido del Pueblo Trabajador in 2010 and aspired to govern that community in the 2012 and 2016 elections. He later became part of the MVC foundation.
  10. Gregorio Matías, PNP: Former Puerto Rican police sergeant. Matías was vice president of organized police. He entered the Senate in May 2020 after being certified as the only candidate to fill one of the vacancies left by former senator Larry Seilhammer and Abel Nazario.
  11. Keren Riquelme, PNP: Professor of Linguistics at the University of Puerto Rico. She lobbied as a citizen for the state before the United States Congress. After the examination, she could be elected senator in the last space by accumulation, removing the popular senator, Aníbal José Torres.
  12. Henry Neumann, PNP: Former athlete, lawyer and merchant. For the past four years he has served as vice president of the Senate and chaired the Public Safety Commission.
  13. Nitza Morán, PNP: Businesswoman and former president of the Placita de Santurce Merchants Association. She was the president of the Women’s New Progressive Party. In her first political contest, she was elected senator for the district in San Juan. He is one of the new faces of the PNP in the legislature and will represent District 1 of San Juan with Senator Henry Neumann.
  14. Carmelo Ríos, PNP: He’s a lawyer. He first became a legislator in 2004 as a senator for the Bayamón and Guaynabo districts. For the last four years he has held the position of president of the PNP majority in the Senate. In 2017, he ran for mayor of Guaynabo, following the resignation of then-mayor Héctor O’Neill.
  15. Migdalia Padilla, PNP: Educator. She has been a member of the Puerto Rico Senate since 2000. She was the first woman to chair the Senate Finance Committee.
  16. Elizabeth Rosa, PPD: Psychologist and social worker. She was the only woman on the ballot for the Arecibo Senate district.
  17. Rubén Soto, PPD: Studies in human resources, labor relations and environmental planning. After the electoral control, he imposed himself as senator for the Arecibo district.
  18. There is García, PPD: Folklorist, lawyer and educator – As an elected senator in the Mayagüez-Aguadilla district, she comes to the Capitol with the mission of providing greater visibility to Western business.
  19. Migdalia González, PPD: Academic training in management and doctoral student in human resources. She was president of the popular women in the west of the island. In her first election aspiration, she was elected senator for the Mayagüez-Aguadilla district.
  20. Marially González, PPD: Psychologist. She is the daughter of the mayor of Jayuya, Georgie González. This was her first election competition in which she was elected senator for the Ponce district.
  21. Ramón Ruiz, PPD: He is a chemist by profession. He has been a member of the Legislature since 2013. He was originally a representative for the Ponce representative district, but is now a district senator.
  22. Gretchen Hau, PPD. Lawyer by profession and former executive director of the Association of Mayors of Puerto Rico. She was elected in her first election aspiration as a senator for Guayama District.
  23. Albert Torres Berríos, PPD: He comes from the public service of the Apeduct and Sewer Authority. He was elected senator for Guayama District.
  24. Rosamar Trujillo Plumey, PPD: He worked in the public service of the Family Department. She is the daughter of the late mayor of Humacao, Marcelo Trujillo. In her first political aspiration, she was elected senator for the Humacao district.
  25. Wanda Soto, PNP: Director of banking operations. In the past, she tried unsuccessfully to run for office, now she was elected by the Humacao Senate district.
  26. Javier Aponte Dalmau, PPD: Lawyer and financier. He has also worked in the private sector as an adviser to legislative presidents. He has been a representative for the past four years and now enters the Senate for the Carolina District.
  27. Marissa Jiménez, PNP. He has worked in the public service in the customer service areas of various public corporations. He served in various political structures of the PNP.

.Source