These are the new members of the Puerto Rico Senate

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Facing a new government in the country, elected lawmakers were sworn in today as part of Puerto Rico’s nineteenth legislative assembly.

At the ceremony, about 75 lawmakers were sworn in to assemble the country’s new legislature. And despite the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) gaining a majority in both legislative bodies, the Senate is expected to be the scene of a battle for absolute leadership of this body. In the upper house, the PPD has 12 seats, so it will take two votes from minority party lawmakers to ratify Senator José Luis Dalmau as the new Senate president.

The PNP in turn has 10 seats in the legislative body. While the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC) will have two senators. The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and the Dignity Project (PD) will each have one legislature in the Senate. In turn, independent senator José Vargas Vidot confirmed his legislative seat.

Here are the new members of the Puerto Rico Senate:

  1. Mary of Lourdes Santiago, PIP: A lawyer. She was the elected senator with the most votes. She was a senator from 2005 to 2009. She was a candidate for governor for the PIP in 2016.
  2. Joanne Rodríguez Veve, PD – She’s a canon lawyer. She was elected in her first electoral aspiration. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Catholic lay organization, the Alianza Católica Puertorriqueña por la Vida y por la Patria.
  3. William Villafañe, PNP. Lawyer. He was the new progressive senator to be elected with the highest number of votes. He was already a member of the Senate where he had a vacancy halfway through the past four years. He was Minister of the Interior under the administration of Ricardo Rosselló.
  4. Thomas Rivera Schatz, PNP. Lawyer. He has served as Senate President twice before. He was president of the PNP, where he was previously Secretary General.
  5. Juan Zaragoza, PPD: Is Public accountant. He was the senator elected by the PPD with the highest number of votes. This was his first political ambition. He was Minister of Finance under the administration of former Governor Alejandro García Padilla.
  6. José Luis Dalmau, PPD. Lawyer and biologist. He was chosen by the PPD delegation as the new Senate President, although he needs a vote outside of the delegation. He was first elected senator in 2000.
  7. José Vargas Vidot, independent. Healthcare. He was elected the first independent senator in the 2016 election when he was the elected senator with the highest number of votes. He is known for his work for the homeless.
  8. Aafter Irma Rivera Lassen, MVC. Lawyer and university professor. Feminist militant. She was president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association. She is the elected senator with the highest number of votes in the MVC, a faction she also chairs.
  9. Rafael Bernabe, MVC: University professor of economics. He founded the Partido del Pueblo Trabajador in 2010 and became the governor of that community in the 2012 and 2016 elections. Later he was part of the founding of the MVC.
  10. Gregorio Matías, PNP: Former Puerto Rico Police Sergeant. Matías was vice president of the organized police. He joined the Senate in May 2020 after being certified as the only candidate to fill one of the vacancies left by former Senator Larry Seilhammer and Abel Nazario.
  11. Keren Riquelme, PNP: Professor of Linguistics at the University of Puerto Rico. She has lobbied for the United States Congress as a citizen. After the investigation, she was able to be elected senator in the final room by accumulation, which resulted in the dismissal of the popular senator, Aníbal José Torres.
  12. Henry Neumann, PNP: Former athlete, lawyer and merchant. For the past four years, he has served as Vice President of the Senate and Chairman of the Public Safety Commission.
  13. Nitza Morán, PNP: Businesswoman and former president of the Merchants Association of Placita de Santurce. She chaired the Women of the New Progressive Party. In her first political competition, she was elected senator in San Juan by district. He is one of the PNP’s new faces in the legislature and will represent District 1 of San Juan alongside Senator Henry Neumann.
  14. Carmelo Ríos, PNP: Is a lawyer. He first became legislator in 2004 as a senator for Bayamón and Guaynabo district. For the past four years, he has chaired the PNP majority in the Senate. In 2017 he became Mayor of the Municipality of Guaynabo, after the resignation of then Mayor Héctor O’Neill.
  15. Migdalia Padilla, PNP: Educator. She has been a member of the Puerto Rico Senate since 2000. She was the first woman to chair the Senate Finance Committee.
  16. Elizabeth Rosa, PPD: Psychologist and social worker. She was the only woman on the ballot for the Arecibo Senate District.
  17. Rubén Soto, PPD: Studies in Human Resources, Industrial Relations and Environmental Planning. After the electoral scrutiny, he won the upper hand as a senator for the Arecibo district.
  18. There is García, PPD: Folklorist, Attorney, and Educator – As an elected senator in the Mayagüez-Aguadilla district, she comes to the Capitol on a mission to bring more visibility to Western affairs.
  19. Migdalia González, PPD: Academic preparation in management and PhD student in Human Resources. She was president of the Popular Women in the West of the Island. In her first election aspiration, she was elected senator for the Mayagüez-Aguadilla district.
  20. Marially González, PPD: Psychologist. She is the daughter of Jayuya mayor, Georgie González. This was her first electoral competition in which she was elected senator for the Ponce district.
  21. Ramón Ruiz, PPD: He is chemist by profession. He has been in the legislature since 2013. Initially he was a representative for the representative district of Ponce, but now he is a district senator.
  22. Gretchen Hau, PPD. Lawyer by profession and former director of the Association of Mayors of Puerto Rico. She was elected senator for the Guayama district in her first electoral aspiration.
  23. Albert Torres Berríos, PPD: It comes from the public service in the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority. He was elected senator for the Guayama district.
  24. Rosamar Trujillo Plumey, PPD: He worked in the public service of the Department of the Family. She is the daughter of the late Mayor of Humacao, Marcelo Trujillo. In her first political ambition, she was elected a senator for the Humacao district.
  25. Wanda Soto, PNP: Banking Manager. In the past she has tried unsuccessfully to run for an elective, now she has been elected by the Humacao Senate District.
  26. Javier Aponte Dalmau, PPD: Lawyer and financier. He has worked in the private sector and as an advisor to legislative presidents. He has served as a representative for the past four years and is now serving in the Carolina District Senate.
  27. Marissa Jiménez, PNP. He has worked in public service in the customer service areas of several government companies. He has been active in various political structures of the PNP.

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