Puerto Rico's Gov. Luis Fortuño Loses Re-Election Bid

The market friendly reformer was kicked to the curb

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Puerto Ricans have endorsed U.S. statehood for the Caribbean island but also ousted the pro-statehood governor in a close election.

Gov. Luis Fortuno conceded defeat Wednesday to his main challenger after concluding there were not enough outstanding ballots to close the gap with his main challenger, Alejandro Garcia Padilla. The margin in Tuesday's vote was less than 1 percent.

"Now it's time for us to come together as one people. The campaign is over," Fortuno said in a news conference.

Comments

[John Marshall]

Interesting that Fortuno would lose, while the statehood movement gains ground. I think the biggest reason for this is not so much a desire for Garcia Padilla's policies re: statehood, but rather a popular vote against Fortuno's economic policies of late.

I wrote a little more about this here http://51starflag.com/blog/pue.....ehood-vote - about the anti-statehood/pro-statehood split.

Also, the recent ley 7 protests did not help him. It is strange to see such a split though in expressed sentiment.