Arnold I. Palacios
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios spoke to the media on Thursday, Jan. 9, about his response to the backlash he has received from the local Republican Party regarding his switch back to the GOP.
Palacios left the GOP in Oct. 2022 to run as an independent candidate for governor. With the support of local Democrats, he defeated then-Republican Gov. Ralph DLG Torres in the runoff. Palacios was Torres’ running-mate in the 2018 election.
In December 2024, the Republican National Committee announced that Palacios was returning to the Republican Party.
“The fact of the matter is I am now a registered member of the Republican National Committee and I am a Republican governor in the eyes of the RNC,” Palacios said.
His said he hopes that the local GOP can “get along and rebuild” the local party.
“Let’s all chill out and get along and rebuild whatever are the remnants of the Republican Party today, otherwise it is going to be the same thing that’s going to happen again, where the party can only field five candidates in the…midterm election,” Palacios said.
He noted that several Republicans hold key positions in his administration.
“For the large part, I kept a lot of Republican members [who] are still being employed in key positions,” Palacios said. “A lot of my supporters were a bit [upset at] me for not insisting that [Republican] board members be thrown out or resign, but there are some people that are talented and worked hard and know what they’re doing. We can’t continue to go through that same route,” he added, referring to political conflict.
“This is a community with a limited talent pool. If every four years we’re just going to throw everybody out and say, ‘OK you lose the election, everybody out,’ [then] this community is going to be in chaos.”
He added, “You have very talented individuals that have done the job well. If you’ve done the job well and deserve to be retained, we’ll give that consideration.”
The local GOP said it will hold a general membership meeting on Jan. 16, 2025, to “provide our members the opportunity to voice their support or objections regarding whether Governor Palacios should be permitted to rejoin the Party.”
