The Republican Party of Puerto Rico ( es, Partido Republicano de Puerto Rico) is the local affiliate of the national

United States Republican Party The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the Two-party system, two Major party, major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by Abolitionism in the United Stat ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. The affiliation started in 1903. The party does not participate in the November elections mandated by the Constitution of Puerto Rico for local registered political parties because it is not a registered party in Puerto Rico for local electoral purposes. Instead, the party holds its own elections to select the Puerto Rico delegates to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

and holds presidential primaries on the last Sunday of February. The Republican Party of Puerto Rico's ideology supports

statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "st ...

for Puerto Rico. Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón,

resident commissioner of Puerto Rico The resident commissioner of Puerto Rico () is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives elected by the voters of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico every four years, the only member of the House of Representatives ...

, is the current local party chairperson. The local affiliate is based in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

History

The origin of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico can be traced to the aftermath of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. Once the Spanish–American War came to an end in 1898, Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States. At that point, the former Spanish colonial-era parties that existed in Puerto Rico were forced to redefine themselves given the new political reality created by the change in sovereignty. On July 4, 1899, the dissenting wing of one of such parties, the Partido Autonomista (

Autonomist Party The Autonomist Party ( it, Partito Autonomista; hr, Autonomaška stranka) was an Italian-Dalmatianist political party in the Dalmatian political scene, that existed for around 70 years of the 19th century and until World War I. Its goal was ...

), which had just formed Partido Autonomista Ortodoxo in 1897, founded a party with an ideology of annexation to the United States and called it Partido Republicano de Puerto Rico (Republican Party of Puerto Rico). This new party favored joining the United States as a federated state and was led by Dr. José Celso Barbosa. In 1903 the Republican Party of Puerto Rico affiliated itself with the U.S. Republican Party. In 1924 Partido Republicano de Puerto Rico split into two factions: one faction joined with the Union Party to form the Alianza (The Alliance), a pro-autonomy group, and the other faction, renamed itself ''

Partido Republicano Puro Partido Republicano Puro (Pure Republican Party), also known as Partido Constitucional Histórico, was a political party that existed in Puerto Rico from 1924 to 1932. The party's main goal was the annexation of Puerto Rico into the American Un ...

'' (Pure Republican Party) and joined with the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

to form the pro-statehood '' Coalición'' (The Coalition). The 1924 split brought Partido Republicano de Puerto Rico to an end,Ileana M. Rodriguez Silva. ''Silencing Race: Disentangling blackness, colonialism, and national identities in Puerto Rico.'' Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. 19. and ''Coalición'' became the de facto pro-statehood ideology.

Ideology

The Republican Party of Puerto Rico believes in equal and full citizenship rights for U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico, and that this can only be achieved through statehood for Puerto Rico.

Republican presidential primaries 2016 results

Notes

References

External links

Republican Party of Puerto RicoPuerto Rico Statehood Student Association
{{US Congress by State 1903 establishments in Puerto Rico Political parties established in 1903