Statehood for Puerto Rico Is DOA

Opinion for The Latino Newsletter

SAN JUAN — Whether to be a state or not to be a state is the eternal question in Puerto Rican politics.

Yet, as the dust settles after the elections, and with the pro-independence vote on the rise and diminishing support for statehood, Puerto Ricans sent a clear message: We are tired of this barren debate. 

What dealt a killer blow to the question was Donald Trump's stunning political comeback. The return of the man who has little (if any) love for Puerto Rico and the fact that Republicans now control Congress for at least the next two years means that statehood for Puerto Rico is dead on arrival in a Republican-led D.C.

As Sen. Mitch McConnell said just two days after Election Day, “There won’t be any new states admitted.”

Let's be blunt. Puerto Rico is a United States colony. Call it an “unincorporated territory” if it makes you feel better. Congress holds the ultimate power over the archipelago and its people. Congress decides whether the island keeps its self-government, becomes a state or independent, or enters a free association with the U.S. The results of the Puerto Rican elections are only important regarding who gets into the D.C. rooms to plead their case.  

As expected, the pro-statehood Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) and Trump-supporting Republican Jenniffer González won the governor’s race but only by 39.44%. (The party dominated the island’s Senate and House of Representatives.) The independence candidate, Juan Dalmau, made history by coming in second at 32.66%. 

Dampening González’s “victory” was the final result of a non-binding status referendum during the elections —statehood, independence, or free association with the U.S.— which saw statehood win, but with independence gaining 30.84% support.

There have now been seven plebiscites since 1967, and considering how every party uses these votes to claim a mandate, we are now in Year 57 of this futile debate. Furthermore, in another symbolic 2024 ballot, Puerto Ricans voted for Kamala Harris over Trump by 73%. He will surely keep this percentage in mind. 

However, Pablo José Hernández's election as Resident Commissioner was as significant, or more. For the first time in 24 years and by the largest margin since 1964 (with 44.55% of the vote), a pro-Commonwealth Partido Popular Democratico (PPD) candidate and one who doesn't favor statehood won a voice in D.C.

With Trump in power, it will be interesting to see how Hernández deals with the Puerto Rico Status Act. This bill would authorize yet another referendum, this time a binding, federally sponsored one. The results would be followed by Congress implementing the status choice: statehood, independence, or sovereignty in free association with the United States.

In a recent opinion piece for The Hill, Hernández, a Harvard and Stanford graduate, left no doubt where he stands.  

“For the first time since 2000, the people of Puerto Rico have elected a resident commissioner (non-voting delegate) to Congress who opposes statehood for Puerto Rico and thinks we should focus on different priorities,” Hernández wrote.

“Puerto Ricans are simply tired of the sterile status debate,” he added.

Hernández’s mandate, as he sees it, is to “put statehood aside and prioritize economic development, securing equal treatment in federal programs, and accelerating the disbursement of federal funds for the electric grid's reconstruction.”

He is not wrong. 

The question of Puerto Rico's status has occupied too much space. At the same time, the island languishes in political corruption, economic dependency, a deteriorating infrastructure devastated by natural disasters, daily blackouts, a collapsing health and education system, population loss, and rampant gentrification by predatory tax evaders.

But not for Governor-elect González. Statehood is still the main objective. Her narrative is that statehood received 57% of the vote in the 2024 referendum, and she will go to D.C. and demand that Congress act on it. 

Good luck with that.

Going in, González has four strikes against her: 60% of the island didn’t vote for her, the island’s new Resident Commissioner is against statehood, a U.S. president and Congress will not be kind to Puerto Rico, and Trump thinks her statehood party is corrupt. 

Remember, Trump is the man who called Puerto Rico “dirty and poor,” blocked $20 billion in aid after Hurricane María devastated the island, and then tried to exchange it for Greenland—all while the PNP was in power. And when a comedian called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage,” Trump said nothing more than how good he had been to us. 

Rumblings have already begun that he will claw back relief funds granted to Puerto Rico after María. And who knows what the future of federal funds for the island will be.  

In her quest for statehood, González is banking on the contacts she made during her eight years as Resident Commissioner. Some of them have been nominated to Trump’s cabinet, like Marco Rubio, picked for Secretary of State. Yet, if someone like Rubio has to choose between Trump or González, it’s obvious who his choice will be. And it’s not González.

When McConnell said what he said after the election, González, an official member of Latinos for Trump in 2020 and an RNC delegate who voted to nominate Trump in 2024, countered by calling the Kentucky senator and Republican leader irrelevant and a racist.

She will repeat that mantra during the next four years to no avail and succeed only in beating a dead horse.

Statehood for Puerto Rico is already DOA.

About the Author

A former News Director for Univision Puerto Rico and conflict correspondent, Susanne Ramirez de Arellano is now a cultural critic and writer based in Old San Juan.

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