--- title: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Picks Wife as Running Mate description: Rosario Murillo, the first lady of Nicaragua, is on the ticket as Vice President in the upcoming November 6 presidential election with her husband, President Daniel Ortega. canonical: https://time.com/4553061/nicaragua-president-running-mate-rosario-murillo/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-01T19:48:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:44.029Z og:title: Nicaraguan President Picks Wife as His Running Mate og:description: It’s a real-life ‘House of Cards’ og:url: https://time.com/4553061/nicaragua-president-running-mate-rosario-murillo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802aa367906b343e/6988ac8ce20a87b007a930d0/nicaragua-president-rosario-murillo-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4735 og:image:height: 2663 og:image:alt: NICARAGUA-ORTEGA-MURILLO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nicaraguan President Picks Wife as His Running Mate twitter:description: It’s a real-life ‘House of Cards’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802aa367906b343e/6988ac8ce20a87b007a930d0/nicaragua-president-rosario-murillo-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nicaraguan President Picks Wife as His Running Mate > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a757cff0-90fc-405e-9067-101914dd6b65&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 1, 2016 7:48 PM UTC  Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo wave to journalists on December 4, 2013 in Managua. AFP PHOTO / Inti Ocon / AFP / Inti Ocon (Photo credit should read INTI OCON/AFP/Getty Images) Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo wave to journalists on December 4, 2013 in Managua. AFP PHOTO / Inti Ocon / AFP / Inti Ocon (Photo credit should read INTI OCON/AFP/Getty Images) AFP—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 1, 2016 7:48 PM UTC Move over, [Claire Underwood](http://time.com/4234461/claire-underwood-house-of-cards-history/). First Lady of Nicaragua Rosario Murillo is here to take your spot. Murillo is on the ticket as vice president in the upcoming November 6 election with her husband, President Daniel Ortega, New York _Times_ [reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/world/americas/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-house-of-cards.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=1). Although Murillo holds the title of first lady, many Nicaraguans already view her as an overly influential and powerful political figure. If Ortega wins his third consecutive term, the victory will be seen as solidifying the couple’s place in Nicaraguan history. Agustín Jarquín, Oretga’s 2001 running mate, told the _Times,_ “She’s not the vice president; she’s the co-president.” Murillo’s daughter, Zoilamérica Ortega, also emphasizes this point: “Denying something to my mother is a declaration of war.” Murillo is essentially already a “de facto cabinet member,” according to the _Times_. She gives briefings on subjects from natural disasters to the [Zika virus](http://time.com/4550172/zika-virus-male-fertility/) and often meets with local leaders. Florencia del Carmen López, a street vendor, told the _Times,_ “It’s not that she has as many followers as her husband — she has more.” She continued, “The men are annoyed by it. The majority of her followers are women.” [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ Other politicians, such as Sergio Ramírez, view Murillo’s rise to power as “an extreme search for legitimacy.” Ramírez said, “There were signals: Little by little, her face started showing up as the face on the political propaganda, at first with Daniel and then alone.” Ortega and Murillo have seven children together, but did not marry until 2005, when Ortega sought another chance at the presidency after previous failed runs. Ortega won that election, and Murillo’s “influence was notable right away,” the _Times_ reports. Murillo removed politicians from office who she disagreed with, but has also been credited with aiding the nation’s poor. Per a new law, Ortega is allowed to run indefinitely. Some Nicaraguans are worried about the family’s consolidation of power. Sergio González Gutiérrez, a taxi driver, told the _Times,_ “She wants to continue having power — that’s a sickness.” Murillo declined to comment to the _Times_, although she is also the country’s official media spokeswoman. \[[New York _Times_\]](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/world/americas/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-house-of-cards.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=1) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4553061/nicaragua-president-running-mate-rosario-murillo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4553061/nicaragua-president-running-mate-rosario-murillo/"},"headline":"Nicaraguan President Picks Wife as His Running Mate","datePublished":"2016-11-01T19:48:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:44.029Z","description":"It’s a real-life ‘House of Cards’","url":"https://time.com/4553061/nicaragua-president-running-mate-rosario-murillo/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802aa367906b343e/6988ac8ce20a87b007a930d0/nicaragua-president-rosario-murillo-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802aa367906b343e/6988ac8ce20a87b007a930d0/nicaragua-president-rosario-murillo-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NICARAGUA-ORTEGA-MURILLO","caption":"NICARAGUA-ORTEGA-MURILLO","creditText":"AFP—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4553061/nicaragua-president-running-mate-rosario-murillo/","name":"Nicaraguan President Picks Wife as His Running Mate"}}]}] ```