2008 Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico primaries

The 2008 Popular Democratic Party primaries were the primary elections by which voters of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) chose its nominees for various political offices of Puerto Rico for the 2008 general elections. They were held on March 9, 2008. Incumbent Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá faced no opposition for his candidacy, making him the official candidate for the elections.

Background
At the time of the primaries, incumbent Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was allegedly being investigated by federal authorities for allegations of irregularities in his campaign finances. However, despite this, the party supported his candidacy for Governor.

Also, one of the most contested campaigns was the one for Mayor of Ponce, with incumbent Francisco Zayas Seijo facing the former administrator of the city, Carlos Jirau.

At-large

 * Eduardo Bhatia
 * Juan Cancel Alegría
 * Víctor de la Cruz
 * Landy Fabre
 * Antonio Fas Alzamora
 * Alejandro García Padilla


 * Sila Mari González Calderón
 * Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral
 * Rafael Irizarri
 * Margarita Ostolaza
 * Cirilo Tirado Rivera
 * Roberto Vigoreaux

District
The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on only 4 of the 8 senatorial districts.

Arecibo

 * Wanda Arroyo
 * Javier Cruz
 * María Elena
 * Edgar A. Martínez
 * Francis Rivera
 * Iván Serrano Cordero

Mayagüez-Aguadilla

 * Robin H. Montes
 * Sergio Ortíz
 * Omar Soto
 * Enid Toro de Báez

Ponce

 * Modesto Agosto Alicea
 * José Luis Galarza
 * Bruno Ramos
 * José H. Rivera
 * Rafael Santiago

Guayama

 * Luis Guillermo Febus
 * Eder Ortíz Ortíz
 * Angel M. Rodríguez

At-large

 * Jorge Colberg Toro
 * Ulises Dalmau
 * Héctor Ferrer
 * Brenda López de Arrarás
 * Jeanette Miranda
 * Julio Muñoz
 * Angel Ortíz


 * Jaime Perelló
 * Coco Ríos
 * Frankie Rodríguez
 * Ramón Ruíz Nieves
 * José Segui
 * Luis Vega Ramos
 * Carmen Yulín Cruz

District
The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 24 of the 40 representative districts.

District 3

 * Ruthy Currás
 * Herminio Pagán

District 11

 * Ricky Arrillaga
 * Rafael Hernández

District 12

 * Jorge Avilés
 * Eliezer Burgos
 * Claudio Ferrer, Jr.
 * Remberto Rodríguez

District 13

 * Benny Collazo
 * Felix Pagán
 * Víctor Rodríguez
 * Amadis Ulises

District 14

 * Vángelo Figueroa
 * Felix Rosario
 * Juan R. Torres

District 16

 * Tony Rodríguez
 * Juan Vega Salamanca

District 17

 * Moisés Acevedo
 * Armando Franco
 * Alfredo González
 * Héctor Mol Ibañez

District 18

 * Luis "Chivita" González
 * Concepción Salas
 * Solá
 * María Vargas

District 20

 * Elvin Camacho
 * Luis Ramírez
 * Jorgito Ramos
 * Eduardo Rosado

District 21

 * Naida Mateo
 * Lydia Méndez Silva
 * Rafy Nazario

District 22

 * Juan O. Alicea
 * Georgie González

District 23

 * Wilo Beltrán
 * Rafael A. García

District 24

 * Ramón Borrero
 * Luis Farinacci
 * Vilma Flores
 * Ferdinand Martínez
 * Vangie Rivera

District 25

 * Edgar Manolo Avilés
 * Jorge Miranda
 * Piro Reyes
 * Víctor Vassallo

District 26

 * John Avilés
 * Juan Carlos Figueroa
 * Gamalier Pagán

District 27

 * Carmen Iris González
 * Carlos Luis Torres
 * Pito Torres

District 28

 * Jorge I. Agosto
 * Frankie Cuadrado
 * Remesal
 * Rosendo
 * Luis Santiago

District 29

 * Félix Agosto
 * Heric Colón
 * José R. Varela

District 30

 * Rey Alomar
 * Eduardo Cintrón
 * Migdalia Díaz
 * Domingo Torres

District 33

 * Héctor Carrasquillo
 * Gilbert

District 34

 * George Soto
 * Juan Pedro

District 35

 * Narden Jaime Espinosa
 * Ricardo Fernández
 * Freddy
 * José Pi Báez
 * José "Tony" Reyes
 * Valentín Valdés
 * William Vázquez

District 36

 * Ricky Abreu
 * Andújar

District 37

 * José Miguel del Valle, Jr.
 * Frankie Guerra

Mayors
The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 23 of 78 municipalities.

Arecibo

 * Ramón E. Dasta
 * Héctor Rafael

Arroyo

 * Eric Bachier Román
 * Ricardo Rivera

Canóvanas

 * Moisés Castro
 * Jesús Rosado

Cataño

 * Félix Fuentes
 * José Rosario

Ceiba

 * Gilberto "Lex" Camacho
 * Humberto González
 * Abimael Portalatín

Culebra

 * Alexis Bermúdez
 * Digna Feliciana

Fajardo

 * Myrna García
 * Norma Guzmán

Florida

 * Johnny de León
 * Yonatan

Humacao

 * Joel Rosario
 * Marcelo Trujillo

Juana Díaz

 * Luis Angel Cortés
 * Ramón Hernández Torres

Lajas

 * César Corales
 * Marcos "Turin" Irizarry
 * Ambrosio Rodríguez

Lares

 * Chely
 * Rigo Guilloty

Las Marías

 * Reinaldo González
 * José Javier Rodríguez

Las Piedras

 * Nelson Vázquez
 * Roberto Velázquez

Loíza

 * Julito Osorio
 * Maricruz Rivera

Moca

 * Wilson Acevedo
 * Aida E. González

Naranjito

 * Manuel Martínez
 * Moncho Padilla
 * Víctor Manuel Pérez
 * Cheo Rivera
 * Jolly Rivera

Ponce

 * Carlos Jirau
 * Francisco Zayas Seijo

Rincón

 * Juan D. Elías
 * Carlos López Bonilla

Salinas

 * Tony Badé
 * Francisco Colón
 * Abraham López
 * Pedro Santos

Trujillo Alto

 * José Luis Cruz Cruz
 * Hiram

Utuado

 * Jesús Arce
 * Ramón Collazo
 * Martín Negrón
 * Otilio Plaza
 * Quitín

Vieques

 * Víctor Emeric
 * Dámaso Serrano

At-large


Acevedo Vilá's candidacy
Several weeks after the primaries, Incumbent Governor and PPD candidate, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, was officially indicted on 19 counts of campaign finance violations. This put his candidacy in jeopardy, and several candidates where taunted as possible replacements. However, Acevedo Vilá decided to run for reelection, and was openly endorsed by the Party in a massive caucus held at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in April 2008. Acevedo Vilá would lose the 2008 general elections. However, in March 2009, he was found not guilty of all charges by a jury.

Split in Ponce
In the primary for the Mayor of Ponce, incumbent Francisco Zayas Seijo narrowly beat his opponent, former Ponce administrator, Carlos Jirau. Zayas beat Jirau by less than 30 votes. After the defeat, Jirau appealed the primary claiming there were irregularities in the process. He also started an independent movement called Movimiento Autónomo Ponceño. At the 2008 general elections, both Zayas and Jirau were defeated by the PNP candidate Mayita Meléndez. This was the first time a PNP candidate had won in Ponce in more than 20 years.