Puerto Rican delegates at the Democratic and Republican national conventions backed their respective presidential nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — even though both parties changed their official platforms on Puerto Rico, not aligning with some delegates’ views on statehood or the future of Puerto Rico.
The platform approved at the Democratic convention in Chicago this week states the party’s explicit support for a bipartisan bill that seeks to change Puerto Rico’s territorial relationship to the U.S. through a federally binding vote — leaving out Puerto Rico’s current territorial option.
Under the terms of the bill, known as the Puerto Rico Status Act, Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. territory would choose among three nonterritorial status options: statehood, independence and sovereignty in free association with the U.S.
By contrast, Democrats broadly included Puerto Rico’s current territorial status in their 2020 and 2016 platforms, saying it should be up to the people of Puerto Rico to determine their status.
Last month, the Republican platform removed language supporting Puerto Rican statehood, which it had included in 2020 and 2016.
In their 2020 and 2016 platforms, Republicans supported the “right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state.”
In their 2024 platform, Republicans included no mention of the issue, saying only that they “will protect Americans in the territories,” including Puerto Rico, because they “are of vital importance to our National Security, and we welcome their greater participation in all aspects of the political process.”
A candidate’s stance on Puerto Rico’s status is a top-of-mind issue for Puerto Rican voters in the mainland.
Puerto Ricans living on the island are U.S. citizens who can’t vote for president or participate in other federal elections. That changes once they move to the mainland U.S. and can register to vote in U.S. elections, making Puerto Ricans the second-largest group of Latino eligible voters in the country.
While people in Puerto Rico can’t vote in presidential elections, both the Democratic and the Republican parties allow them to participate in presidential primaries and send delegates to their national conventions.
The island’s status issue is an incredibly divisive one, in large part because of how local political parties in Puerto Rico are organized.
Traditionally, most people have supported either the pro-statehood New Progressive Party or the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the current territorial status. A smaller percentage of “independentistas” support the Puerto Rican Independence Party, which advocates for independence from the U.S.
United for Harris but divided over DNC platform
All of Puerto Rico’s 60 delegates attended the Democratic National Convention this week. Forty-three of them are from the pro-statehood party, 16 are from the party supporting the current status, and one isn’t affiliated to any party on the island.
Charlie Rodríguez, president of the Puerto Rico Democratic Party and a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party,