The murky outlook of the Democratic presidential race is making one thing clear: For the first time in decades, Puerto Rico’s presidential primary is likely to matter.
Lawmakers on the island voted last year to move their primary from June 7 to March 29. And with uncertainty increasing over whether any one candidate will emerge from a crowded field this summer with the delegates needed to secure the party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Puerto Rico’s 51 pledged delegates give its voters more power than about half of U.S. states to push popular candidates closer to the finish line.
About a month from the primary, activists on the island say Michael Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders appear to be the most aggressive in pursuing Puerto Rico’s spoils.
“The Democratic nomination process this cycle is going to be a battle for every single delegate,” said Alan Clendenin, a Democratic National Committee member from Florida. “Puerto Rico is going to be important because every delegate is going to matter.”
Voters on the island, a U.S. territory that doesn’t get to vote for president in the November general election, only began participating in primaries in 1980. That was the first and arguably last time there was any real drama in Puerto Rico for either party, with then-President Jimmy Carter narrowly fending off a challenge from Ted Kennedy and Ronald Reagan losing to his eventual running mate, George H.W. Bush.
Otherwise, Puerto Rico has been largely irrelevant to Democratic presidential nominations — in recent years, an afterthought to contests decided earlier in the winter and spring. (Republican primaries on Puerto Rico have been held on different dates than Democratic primaries, typically in February and March.)
