Roberto Prats

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Roberto Prats Palerm (born 1966) is a former Senator of Puerto Rico, a lawyer, and a former candidate for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the elections of 2004. He is affiliated and a member of the Governing Board of the Popular Democratic Party and chairman of the Democratic Party (United States) in Puerto Rico.

1 Education
2 Political career
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Education

Prats received his Bachelor's Degree in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University in 1990. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the Interamerican University School of Law.

[edit] Political career

Prats began working in his early twenties with the Government of Puerto Rico. He worked closely with Sila M. Calderón, then Mayor of San Juan, being the city's Public Affairs and Federal Relations Advisor.

In the 2000 elections, Prats was elected as an at-large Senator, becoming the youngest at-large member that year of the Puerto Rican Senate. During his tenure, Prats pushed legislation that sought to help low-income people, environmental statutes and transportation legislation, and was considered a consensus-builder.

In 2003, Sila M. Calderón announced she would not seek a second term as Governor. The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was chosen to run for Governor in the elections of 2004. Senator Roberto Prats became the Popular Democratic Party's nomineee for Resident Commissioner for the upcoming elections, which he lost to Luis Fortuño.

Prats got a big boost for his congressional campaign, when the Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe endorsed him in March of 2004. He subsequently was elected State Chair of the Democratic Party in Puerto Rico, a position he currently holds, under DNC Chairman Howard Dean, with whom he also has a close relationship.

One of Puerto Rico's so-called "superdelegates", Prats announced his support in January of 2008 of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid and serves, along with Puerto Rico Senate President Kenneth McClintock, as co-chair of her Hispanic Leadership Council, in spite of his former running mate's (Gov. Acevedo Vilá's) endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama.