You may have heard that Joe Biden won the Puerto Rican Democratic Party primary Sunday with 98% of the vote, which awards him 55 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. A Google news search brings up multiple headlines touting the win, and it was virtually the only news about Puerto Rico to be found in mainstream media this week. Biden faced nominal opposition in the primary from Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who dropped out of the race, and author Marianne Williamson.
The fact that Puerto Rico even has primaries when Puerto Ricans are ineligible to vote in the general election is a relic of colonial history and politics that confuses mainland U.S. residents. Frankly, Puerto Ricans on the island showed little enthusiasm for either of the two mainland political parties. Turnout was only 0.26% for Democrats and Republicans scrapped their primary altogether and shifted to a sort of caucus, where delegates selected their candidate. AP reported:
Republicans scrapped their traditional primary and instead awarded their 23 delegates to former President Donald Trump on Sunday in a caucus-style vote at which approximately 77% of 1,340 eligible party officials participated. Trump was the only candidate on the ballot.
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