Dissidents expelled from the Liberal Party of Puerto Rico (then led by Antonio R. Barceló) founded the PPD in 1938.

Luis Muñoz Marín of the PPD brokered an alliance with minor Puerto Rican factions so as to secure his position as Senate president; such coalition-building was fundamental to the multi-party society.

[citation needed] On May 21, 1948, a member of the PPD introduced a bill before the Puerto Rican Senate which would restrain the rights of the independence and nationalist movements on the archipelago.

[14] Under this new law it became a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government; or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent.

According to Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa, a non-PPD member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, the law was repressive and violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees Freedom of Speech.

He also defended a man in a case taken to the US Supreme Court, to challenge the "Gag Law" on the basis of the government's not having had sufficient evidence to arrest the suspect.

Munoz pushed his political-financial platform, called Operation Bootstrap (Operación Manos a la Obra), in which he stimulated Puerto Rico's economy to develop industry.

By the time of the 1968 election, personal and irreconcilable differences had developed between Sánchez Vilella and PPD party president Muñoz Marín.

With Sánchez Vilella and Negrón López competing as candidates for different – but nearly identical – parties, the electorate split their votes.

After the 1968 electoral defeat, Muñoz Marín left the island and went into "exile" in Italy to stay away from local politics and let the PPD find its new direction without him.

Muñoz Marín did not return to Puerto Rico until the PPD had selected Hernández Colón as its new leader and candidate for governor.

TITLE 26, Subtitle A, CHAPTER 1, Subchapter N, PART III, Subpart D, § 936, "Puerto Rico and Possession Tax Credit") in force.

The PDP had helped establish the law, which gave tax breaks to American companies operating in Puerto Rico in order to encourage new businesses.

[citation needed] In 1988, Hernández Colón was re-elected by a comfortable margin, defeating Corrada del Río of the PNP.

Locally enacted plebiscites were held to consult the Puerto Rican people on the issue of future political status of the island in relation to the United States.

The Popular Democratic Party led a campaign to boycott the plebiscite, calling on the electorate to vote for the "none of the above" option.

On March 20, 2009, a federal grand jury decided there was not sufficient basis to try Acevedo Vila on the remaining charges and he was released.

On the elections held on November 8, 2016, the party lost governorship, the House of Representatives and Senate of Puerto Rico.

Currently, custom duties and the authority to enter into treaties with foreign nations remain within the control of the federal government of the United States.

PPD supporters charge that this is unsatisfactory arrangement given that Puerto Ricans are not allowed to exercise their democratic right to vote for the person that appoints those judges - the President of the United States.

Puerto Ricans are also not allowed to exercise their democratic right to elect Senatorial representation into the US Senate, the authority within the US of government that is empowered to approving appointees into the federal court system.

The PPD supports Puerto Rico taking on more of the character of an autonomous territory rather than becoming a state of the American Union.

The new philosophy commits the party to defending a political status for the island that is based in the irrevocable right of the people of Puerto Rico to form a sovereign country.

[20][21][22][23][24][25] On January 8, 2007 Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá stated that he intends to garner support to have the political status of Puerto Rico considered before the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).

[26] The Associated Press reported that Governor Acevedo Vilá announced that "We have started negotiations with other sectors of Puerto Rico, to see in what way we can accelerate that issue and achieve more allies at the UN".

[26] The PPD used as a logo the silhouette of a rural farm worker, jibaro, wearing a traditional straw hat (pava), with the words "pan, tierra, libertad" (bread, land, freedom).

In 2016, the logo was updated to include a woman and the words "pan, tierra, libertad' were substituted with "unidad, trabajo, prosperidad" ("unity, work, prosperity").

"Jalda Arriba" was written by Johnny Rodriguez, a famous Puerto Rican singer, composer and club owner.