Luis Petri

Luis Alfonso Petri (born 1 April 1977) is an Argentine politician who is serving as the country's Minister of Defense since 2023 under president Javier Milei. Previously, from 2013 to 2021, he was a National Deputy elected in Mendoza Province. Prior to serving as a member of the National Congress, he was a member of the Legislature of Mendoza from 2006 to 2013.

He was Patricia Bullrich's running mate in the 2023 presidential election, running as part of the "Force of Change" list within the Juntos por el Cambio coalition, coming third in the first round.

Early life and education
Petri was born on 1 April 1977 in San Martín, Mendoza. He studied law at the National University of the Littoral (UNL), later working as a private lawyer at his own firm.

Political career
Petri became involved in politics as a member of the Juventud Radical, the youth wing of the Radical Civic Union (UCR). He was elected vice president of the Mendoza Juventud Radical in 2003, and from 2003 to 2006 he was legislative secretary of the Mendoza Province Senate.

In the 2005 provincial legislative elections, he ran for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in Section II as part of the UCR list, and became elected with 33.90% of the vote. He took office on 1 May 2006. He was re-elected to a second term as part of the Federal Civic Front list in the 2009 elections with 51.76% of the vote. During his time in the provincial legislature he specialized in matters of security and law and order, authoring a bill to make crimes with aggravating circumstances non-commutable.

In the 2013 legislative election, Petri ran for one of Mendoza's seats in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. He was the third candidate in the UCR list, behind Julio Cobos and Patricia Giménez, and was elected with 47.69% of the vote. He was re-elected in 2017 as part of the Cambiemos coalition.

As a national deputy, Petri formed part of the parliamentary commissions on Internal Security, Addiction Prevention and Drug-trafficking Control, Transport, Communications and Information, Criminal Legislation, Justice, and General Legislation. He was second vice-president of the Chamber from 2017 to 2019, during the presidency of Emilio Monzó.

He voted against the legalization of abortion in Argentina twice: in 2018 and 2020.

In 2023, he sought the Juntos por el Cambio nomination to run for Governor of Mendoza, running against former governor and fellow UCR member Alfredo Cornejo. He received 17.4% of the PASO votes against Cornejo's 26.7%. On 22 June 2023, presidential hopeful Patricia Bullrich of the Republican Proposal party announced Petri would be her running mate in the 2023 presidential election, as part of the "The Force of Change" list within the Juntos por el Cambio coalition.

Personal life
Petri has one child. Since 2021 he has been in a relationship with journalist and Telefé newscaster Cristina Pérez.