José Luis Dalmau

José Luis Dalmau Santiago is the current PDP Minority Leader of the Puerto Rico Senate.

Public office

He was elected to the Senate in 2000 at the age of 34 as a Senator from the Humacao senatorial district along with his running mate, Sixto Hernández. In 2001 he became Senate Majority Leader during his freshman term under the twelfth President of the Senate, Antonio Fas Alzamora. After the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico's defeat in 2004, and after his own reelection, he was elected to the challenging role of being the floor leader of the delegation that, while a minority in the Senate, represents the executive branch's interests in that legislative body, after PDP gubernatorial candidate Aníbal Acevedo Vilá narrowly beat former Governor Pedro Rosselló after a hotly contested post-election court challenge. In 2006, his running mate was nominated by Gov. Acevedo Vilá as an appellate judge and, after winning confirmation in the Senate, was replaced by Jorge Suárez-Cáceres, who is currently Dalmau's running mate in 2008. They don't confront a challenge in the PDP primaries.

Personal life

His family has become a multi-party political dynasty. His cousin Carlos Dalmau ran Acevedo Vilá's campaign. Another cousin, Juan Dalmau, is the Puerto Rican Independence Party's Electoral Commissioner and Secretary General. A third cousin, José Aponte Dalmau, recently succeeded his father as mayor of the city of Carolina, and Sen. Dalmau's brother, Ulises, competed in the PDP primaries to become Representative At-Large, but failed to be elected.

Sources

* [http://www.senadopr.us Puerto Rico Senate]