San Juan Mayor would do it in the PDP ticket.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto will seek to become Puerto Rico’s second woman governor by appearing in the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) ticket in 2020.

She faces a field of at least five other candidates from the same party, who have expressed interest in the position. They would have to square off next June 2020, according to the Puerto Rico Electoral Law, or before, if the party decides to hold an alternative primary. The PDP has only one candidate for resident commissioner so far, Senator Jose Nadal Power.

As of today, the other major party in the island, the ruling New Progressive Party (NPP) has just one candidate for governor, incumbent Ricardo Rosselló Nevares.

After months of expectation, Cruz Soto announced her decision today during a message at the Caguas Botanical Garden. This is a last minute decision, since the alternative up until this very same week had been to announce it via a pre-recorded message. Her choice to run for governor also appears to be last-minute since up to this morning her closest advisors expected her to go for resident commissioner, Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative to Congress.

The other big reveal at today’s event was that she would be running in the PDP ticket, since there was considerable discussion about if she would be leaving the party to join newly-created Citizens’ Action Movement (CAM), a group that aims to become a political party and to submit candidates in the 2020 General Elections.

Ever since Cruz Soto announced she would not run for a third term as mayor of the capital, she has kept the suspense about whether her aspirations were for governor or for resident commissioner, even leaving space for the possibility of departing from the PDP.

The publicized differences between her and the PDP leadership, especially during the presidency of Hector Ferrer, and her resignation as party vice president last year led many to think that Cruz Soto would make the jump to a new party.

The CAM’s membership of sovereignty supporters who were linked with the PDP, such as former advisor and radio commentator Nestor Duprey and independent representative Manuel Natal, contributed to the theory that Cruz Soto could make the jump to pursue her aspirations for this new party.

When Governor Rosselló Nevares announced his intention of running for a second term as governor, he challenged Yulín to run for governor as well. On Monday this week, the San Juan mayor revealed that, if she decided to run for resident commissioner, she would be criticized for not being brave enough to run for governor. ‘Lately politics have become a sport of male chauvinism expressed through women,’ she said.

The capital mayor had ruled out the possibility of running for resident commissioner in 2020, but last year she stated, aside from the governor’s seat, Washington was also in her political crosshairs. ‘I have been very clear about the fact that I am empowering my political future and that all the bases are open. The only thing I am ruling out is aspiring for resident commissioner. No one is chasing me out of here (Puerto Rico) to shut me up,’ she said in July 2017.

Contributing to the possibility of a resident commissioner run was the recognition she earned for her speech against President Donald Trump after Hurricane Maria, which brought her before the eye of the North American public and the Democratic Party, element that in the political language is known as the ‘recognition factor’.

Although she earned spots in important TV shows, such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS), Rachel Maddow and Morning Joe (NBC), Anderson Cooper and New Day (CNN), and was paid homage in two episodes of The Simpsons, all of which promoted her image in US politics, her constant travels have also aroused heavy local criticism and claims from the opposition that she has abandoned her responsibilities as mayor of the capital city.

Cruz Soto was recently named as co-chair of the campaign for the party’s presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, along with co-chairs Ro Khana and Nina Turner, California and Ohio Senators respectively, and Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen.