Popular Democratic Party’s Carlos Delgado Altieri announces he will run again for Puerto Rico governor

Carlos Delgado Altieri will run for governor of Puerto Rico under the Popular Democratic Party again in 2024. 

Altieri has previously been the mayor of Isabela from 2001 to 2021. He also served as the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) president from 2020 to 2021. Altieri won the PDP nomination for governor of Puerto Rico in 2020, when he lost to Pedro Pierluisi (NPP, D), the current governor, in a tight election.  Pierluisi obtained 33.24% of the votes, while Altieri won 31.75% of the votes. The biggest difference in ideology between the two candidates was the idea of statehood. Pierluisi is a strong proponent for Puerto Rico statehood, while Altieri and the PPD are against statehood and favor the territorial status quo. The PPD believes that statehood won’t solve any of the major problems concerning the islands. It would also increase the federal taxes Puerto Rico has to pay. 

 After the elections in 2022, Delgardo Altieri stated that he had nearly ruled out any chances of him running again for governor. He does not believe that the PDP needs to waste time and energy on a candidate but instead focus on strengthening the party’s power. He said he was thinking about running for a seat in the Senate. However, his announcement as a candidate contradicts his statement. Altieri has stated that he wants to run because Pierluisi has not been performing well and satisfying the needs of the people. 

Under Pierluisi, Altieri believes that the problems in Puerto Rico have become worse. After Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, the islands have never recovered or used funding to properly build resiliently against other disasters. The poverty rate is around 40%, with electricity bills and other costs rising. Altieri said that it is not about who the candidate is, but how the candidate will act to solve these problems. The gubernatorial general elections will be held on November 5, 2024.