By Hannah Tascione 
Photo Credit: AP/File Photo
This election cycle, Puerto Rican citizens voted on the Puerto Rico Statehood, Independence, or Free Association Referendum (2024), which will highlight Puerto Rican’s attitude towards the island’s current political status. As it stands, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth territory of the United States which means that Puerto Ricans have a complicated relationship with self-governance and the United States. While Puerto Ricans are considered United States citizens, they do not have the same rights as mainland citizens. Puerto Rican citizens cannot vote in presidential elections and have limited access to federal benefits, like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income. At the same time, they are still subject to federal laws and payroll taxes. However, the island does retain some autonomy. It elects a governor and passes local laws without federal approval, contrary to other non-state territories, like Washington D.C. which require Congressional sign-offs. Similar to Washington D.C., Puerto Rico has no Congressional representation, as both territories only elect one non-voting member to the House of Representatives.
The 2024 ballot gave Puerto Rican voters three options: to be admitted as the 51st state of the United States, become a sovereign nation with independent governance, or stick with the status quo. This choice also addressed inconsistencies with the island’s foreign affairs, U.S. citizenship, and the use of U.S. currency in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico’s interests are only represented by a single, non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives. They are subject to the U.S.’s decisions on foreign affairs. Puerto Rico does not have its own currency either. Because the island is subject to U.S. laws, U.S. trade policy applies to the island’s businesses as well. Only by separating from the U.S. entirely would the island be able to establish its own currency and trade policy. While 56.87% of Puerto Rican voters supported statehood on the 2024 referendum, the U.S. Constitution provides Congress with the ultimate authority to admit new states to the union.
This is the 7th time such a proposal was put to Puerto Ricans since the island was recognized as a U.S. territory in 1898. Only in the first two years the statehood referendum was proposed, in 1967 and 1993, did the majority of voters want to remain a commonwealth. On all other occasions, most citizens have voted in favor of statehood instead of any other option. If the general public has shown overwhelming support for statehood, why hasn’t it happened yet? The answer lies in the fact that all of these referendums have been nonbinding. Congress’s approval is still needed post-referendum for the United States to commit to the island’s statehood. After the last referendum in 2020, another bill proposing the first binding referendum to be held on Puerto Rico’s statehood passed in the U.S. House of Representatives but died in the Senate. Since the most recent referendum was also nonbinding, the newly-elected New Progressive Party governor of Puerto Rico, Jennifer González-Colón, must continue to campaign for the passage of a bill asserting the island’s statehood in Congress.
The results of the referendum face conflicting views across the board, both from Puerto Ricans and Congress members alike. Admitting the island as a U.S. state would give citizens access to Medicaid, SSI, and the ability to vote in presidential elections. However, the cost of the non-binding statehood referendum is under scrutiny in Puerto Rico, as it amounted to $1.3 million in 2024 electoral funding. Many feel the lack of action taken after the past 6 referendums makes the passage of the referendum somewhat redundant. While it’s unclear what positions newly elected House and Senate members will take on the 2024 referendum, the Republican party has generally opposed the idea of the island becoming a state, with all but 16 House Republicans voting against the Puerto Rico Status Act in 2022. Contrastingly, all 217 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill.
The future of the island’s status remains unclear as President-elect Trump moves into the White House on January 20th. Puerto Ricans have often criticized Trump due to perceived inadequacies in his response to the catastrophic damage done to the island by Hurricane Maria in 2017. During his presidency, Trump defended his support for the island and made many claims criticizing Puerto Rican government officials with public tweets saying:
“Puerto Rico got 91 Billion Dollars for the hurricane, more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before, & all their local politicians do is complain & ask for more money. The pols are grossly incompetent, spend the money foolishly or corruptly, & only take from USA….” More recently, the president-elect has come under fire for comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump campaign rally in Madison Square Garden, during which Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean…” An advisor to the Trump campaign quickly stated, “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” though no direct response was given from Trump himself. While the people of Puerto Rico have spoken, the island’s hopes of becoming a state remain in the hands of Congress and President-elect Trump.