Roberto Prats Palerm (born 1966) is a former Senator of Puerto Rico, a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, and a former candidate for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the elections of 2004. He is affiliated and a member of the Governing Board of the Popular Democratic Party and chairman of the

Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is a Centre-left politics, center-left political parties in the United States, political party in the United States. One of the Major party, major parties of the U.S., it was founded in 1828, making it the world's oldes ...

in Puerto Rico.

Education

Prats received his bachelor's degree in policy analysis and management from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1990. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the

Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law The Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, Faculty of Law () is the school of law of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, a private co-educational corporation accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Commissi ...

Political career

Prats began working in his early twenties with the

Government of Puerto Rico The government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, organized under the Constitution of Puerto Rico since 1952, is a republican democracy modeled after the Federal Government of the United States. Under a system of separation of powers, the ...

. He worked closely with Sila M. Calderón, then Mayor of

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, being the city's Public Affairs and Federal Relations Advisor. In the 2000 elections, Prats was elected as an at-large

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

, becoming the youngest at-large member that year of the

Puerto Rican Senate The Senate of Puerto Rico () is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control the legislative branch of ...

. During his tenure, Prats pushed legislation that sought to help low-income families, environmental statutes and transportation legislation, and was considered a consensus-builder. In 2003, Sila M. Calderón announced she would not seek a second term as

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. The

resident commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such a ...

of Puerto Rico,

Aníbal Acevedo Vilá Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá (born 13 February 1962) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus ( LL.M. 1987) and a graduate of the University of ...

, was chosen to run for governor in the elections of 2004. Senator Roberto Prats became the Popular Democratic Party's nominee for resident commissioner for the upcoming elections, which he lost to

Luis Fortuño Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013. Fortuño served as the first Secre ...

, despite a big boost for his congressional campaign, when the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

(DNC) Chairman

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the List of governors of Virginia, 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

endorsed him in March 2004. He subsequently was elected state chair of the Democratic Party in Puerto Rico, a position he currently holds, under DNC chairmen

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...

, with whom he also has a close relationship,

Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...

, the former

governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The Governor (United States), governor is head of the Government_of_Virginia#Executive_branch, executive branch ...

, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and

Donna Brazile Donna Lease Brazile ( ; born December 15, 1959) is an American political strategist, campaign manager, and political analyst who served twice as acting Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She is currently an ABC News contributor, ...

. In the summer of 2016, he was elected to a fourth term as state chair. One of Puerto Rico's "

superdelegates In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

", Prats announced his support in January 2008 of Sen.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's presidential bid and served, along with then-Puerto Rico Senate President

Kenneth McClintock Kenneth Davison McClintock-Hernández (born January 19, 1957) is a politician who served as the twenty-second Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, one of the four longest serving in that post. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s N ...

, as co-chair of her Hispanic Leadership Council, in spite of his former running mate's (Gov. Acevedo Vilá's) endorsement of Sen.

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Prats and McClintock also co-chaired Clinton's successful June 1, 2008 primary campaign in the U.S. territory. Both once again were her top spokespersons in Puerto Rico for the June 5, 2016 Puerto Rico primary, which she also won by over 60% of the vote. In 2009, Prats was elected a member of the DNC's executive committee, the highest ranking Puerto Rican within the Democratic National Committee. In November 2010, he coauthored a book on the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign in Puerto Rico with McClintock, then Secretary of State. In September 2024, Prats wrote a letter asking the judge presiding over the bribery case involving US Senator Bob Menendez, asking for a lenient sentence for the lawmaker who accepted gold bars, cash and other bribes in exchange for favors using his influence and power on behalf of criminal associates and foreign governments. https://newjerseymonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1-2-24-Menendez-sentencing-submission.pdf

Publication

• ''Te Quiero Puerto Rico - Primaria Presidencial Demócrata 2008'', Co-author with

, Aguilar, a subsidiary of Editorial Santillana, First edition in Spanish (200pp), 2010,

References

External links

Biography @ Prats campaign website
- official site, in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Prats, Roberto 1966 births Living people Interamerican University of Puerto Rico alumni Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Members of the Senate of Puerto Rico Cornell University alumni Politicians from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people of Catalan descent Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico

Education

Political career

Publication

See also

References

External links