Jaime Arroyo has been declared winner of the Democratic primary for mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Arroyo, a native of Ponce who came with his family to Pennsylvania as a child, gained 83.96% of the vote. He is expected to easily win the general election for mayor to be held this November.
Arroyo will be the first Puerto Rican mayor of Lancaster. He has been a member of the Lancaster City Council since 2020 and is currently the council’s vice-president as well as the chair of its Economic Development Committee.
First Puerto Rican mayor
Even before Arroyo’s win, it was clear that Lancaster would elect its first Puerto Rican mayor in 2025. Janet Diaz, Arroyo’s opponent in the primary, is also of Puerto Rican heritage, though she was born in New York. She has lived in Lancaster for 50 years and has been a city council member since 2018.
People of Puerto Rican descent make up about 30% of Lancaster’s population. The town is located near Philadelphia, which has among the largest Puerto Rican populations of cities in the United States. Overall, Pennsylvania is third in stateside Puerto Rican population, after Florida and New York.
Puerto Ricans have been an integral part of Pennsylvania’s political life since the 1960s.
El Nuevo Dia reports that there are at least five other mayors of Puerto Rican heritage in the continental United States: Eddie Morán of Reading, Pennsylvania; Jackie Espinosa of Kissimmee, Florida; María Rivera of Central Falls, Rhode Island; Joshua García of Holyoke, Massachusetts; and Omayra Andino of Tuckahoe, New York.
Jaime Arroyo‘s plans
Jaime Arroyo wants to focus on developing the city’s workforce. Job training programs and affordable housing initiatives are tactics he’ll rely on to meet his goals in this area. He also campaigned on safety and integrity of leadership, saying that he wanted to become mayor for the future of Lancaster and the future of his son, Miles.
