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The governor, after hurrying home from vacation, apologized for the leaked texts immediately. “Yes, I use bad language, I send memes, I send sarcastic things,” he told journalists. “I’m not proud of that and when these things happen I start by saying that I apologize.”

But people already had begun to gather on the streets.

The next day, the governor holed up in La Fortaleza, the opulent 16th-century palace that serves as the official governor’s residence. From early morning into the night, he held meetings with the top ranks of his New Progressive Party. First came state lawmakers. Then mayors. Then members of his Cabinet. Then Representative Jenniffer González-Colón, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting resident commissioner in Congress.

If the governor was to hold on to power, these were the people he needed to remain by his side. But many of them already were worried whether Mr. Rosselló — and, more important, the ruling pro-statehood party — could survive the scandal.

“Internally, all members were really concerned that this might drag down the whole party on the island,” said a person who was at the five-hour meeting with members of the Legislative Assembly, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private conversations. “Everyone was slamming the governor, saying this is only going to get worse.”

One of the mayors, María E. Meléndez of Ponce, left in a huff. She said she felt the governor had glossed over his apology too quickly, trying to divert to future policy actions instead.