The totally unfounded notion promoted in the U.S. Senate by some Republicans seeking to cement the territorial status quo in Puerto Rico is a travesty to the more than 3 million U.S. citizens living on the island and simply bad politics stateside. Republicans have won and are winning in Puerto Rico, so the idea of statehood for the island is actually an opportunity for Republicans.
Just look at the most recent victory of Puerto Rico’s Republican Congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez on June 2, 2024, over Democratic incumbent Governor Pedro Pierluisi in the Gubernatorial primary for the pro-statehood party ahead of the November general election. Gonzalez won by an impressive 10% margin, showing the strength of Republican candidates, and dispelling the myth that Puerto Rican statehood would automatically result in the island electing Democrats to Congress.
Serving as a conservative Republican in Congress, Jenniffer Gonzalez has negotiated a bill with bi-partisan support to allow the 3.2 million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico to vote on resolving the island’s outdated and dysfunctional territory status. The Puerto Rico Status Act, H.R. 8393, gives voters the option to become full and equal participants in American society through statehood or to create their own separate country through independence or sovereignty in free association. While some members of the GOP have expressed concerns about the possibility that offering statehood would add two Democrats to the U.S. Senate, the electoral history in Puerto Rico proves otherwise.
For the past 125 years, Puerto Rico has a proven tradition of Republican leadership. Since the 1901 Puerto Ricans have elected Republicans to positions of leadership in the territory’s Legislature, to the Resident Commissioner’s Office in Congress, and as the island’s Governor. Recently, Republicans have been elected by Puerto Rico’s voters to represent them in Congress 12 out of the last 20 years. After serving four years in Congress, Republican Governor Luis Fortuño was elected in 2008 by the largest electoral margin in 30 years. Now, Jenniffer Gonzalez is positioned to continue building on this trend as the highest territory wide vote getter over the last three elections, and the most likely candidate to be elected Governor this fall.
Polling also shows a trend towards the GOP and conservative ideas. A poll released in May 2022 of stateside Puerto Rican voters conducted in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, Texas, and Georgia, showed that those polled were 48% Republican, 31% Democrat, 17% Independent, and 4% other. Of those polled 63% indicated a distrust of President Joe Biden. Additionally, a clear majority of 63% support statehood for Puerto Rico. If Puerto Rico becomes a state Republicans would have a great shot of picking up one or both seats in the U.S. Senate and most House seats.
These numbers mirror the national trend of Hispanic voters moving towards the Republican party. In the 2022 gubernatorial election in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis outperformed former President Donald Trump’s 2020 Latino gains obtaining 58% of the Latino vote, including 68% of Cuban Americans, 56% of Puerto Ricans, and 53% of all other Latinos combined, according to a NBC News exit poll. Compare this to DeSantis’ receipt of 44% of the Latino vote in his prior race for Governor in 2018.
Conservatives must sever the arguments for D.C. statehood from Puerto Rico because they are very different situations. First, statehood for the District of Columbia, the seat of the federal government, would require a constitutional amendment. Furthermore, D.C. would definitely guarantee votes for Democrats in both the House and Senate since voters almost exclusively elect Democrats. So, linking Puerto Rico’s valid aspiration for statehood with the constitutionally complicated Democrat only electorate in D.C. is simply nonsense.
Taking all of this together, Republicans have a significant opportunity to support the aspirations for statehood by the majority of Puerto Rico’s voters on the island and secure the support of conservative Puerto Rican and Hispanic voters stateside. Instead of continuing to use outdated rhetoric that opposes Puerto Rico statehood, Republicans can embrace Puerto Rico’s most likely incoming Republican Governor Jennifer Gonzalez and support her Puerto Rico Status Act bill in Congress. This could also help bring a big election victory for Republicans in the Congressional and Presidential election in November.
Jose Fuentes is the former attorney general of Puerto Rico and is chairman of the Puerto Rico Statehood Council.
Read Full Article »