Puerto Rico statehood and Congress: the people, the record, and the communities they represent
NAPREC Editorial Team · Research and analysis · Reviewed October 15, 2026
Explore the illustrated directory: members, candidates, parties, states and population →
A national issue with a documented record
Puerto Rico’s political future has reached Congress through different proposals and different coalitions. To understand who has supported change, readers need more than a list of names. They need to know what each person actually supported, when the action occurred, and whether the person currently holds office or is seeking it.
This article accompanies NAPREC’s selected, source-linked directory. It brings together current members with documented support for statehood admission legislation or the Puerto Rico Status Act, plus current candidates whose public records include relevant statements or votes. It is not an exhaustive roll of every supporter, an election endorsement, or a prediction of a future vote.
Three bills, two different approaches
H.R. 1522, the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act, was introduced by Darren Soto on March 2, 2021. It proposed admission as a state following a ratification vote. Its original cosponsors included Democrats and Republicans. S. 780, introduced March 16, 2021, was the Senate admission proposal sponsored by Martin Heinrich, with Alex Padilla, Ron Wyden and Brian Schatz as original cosponsors.
H.R. 8393 passed the House on December 15, 2022, 233–191. That bill offered a choice among statehood, independence and sovereignty in free association. A vote for it established support for that statutory process; it did not, by itself, establish a personal preference for statehood. These were 117th Congress measures, not newly pending bills in 2026, and none became law.
The House: bipartisan support, different legislative choices
The admission-bill group featured here includes Darren Soto (D–FL), Gus Bilirakis (R–FL), María Elvira Salazar (R–FL), Carlos Giménez (R–FL), Mario Díaz-Balart (R–FL), Don Bacon (R–NE), Ritchie Torres (D–NY), Elise Stefanik (R–NY), Brendan Boyle (D–PA) and Lou Correa (D–CA). Soto was the sponsor; the other nine appear in the original H.R. 1522 text as cosponsors.
That record should be read alongside subsequent votes. Soto, Salazar, Bacon, Torres, Boyle and Correa voted for final passage of H.R. 8393. Bilirakis, Giménez, Díaz-Balart and Stefanik voted against it. Their different votes on a different proposal do not erase the earlier admission-bill record. Neither should that earlier record be used to hide the later vote. Chris Pappas (D–NH) and Nydia Velázquez (D–NY) are also included for their affirmative H.R. 8393 votes, clearly labeled as support for a multi-option process.
The Senate: a direct admission proposal
Heinrich of New Mexico, Padilla of California, Wyden of Oregon and Schatz of Hawaiʻi remain senators in the current directory. Their 2021 introduction announcement provides direct evidence of support for a pathway to statehood. Their roles are recorded separately from House roll-call votes: senators did not cast votes in House roll call 529. A sponsorship is a meaningful legislative act, but it is not enactment and should not be presented as one.
Candidates: public statements with dates attached
Stefany Shaheen, Democrat, New Hampshire’s 1st District: Puerto Rico Report’s September 8, 2026 debate report attributes explicit support for Puerto Rico statehood to her. Read the reported statement and NHPR’s primary result coverage. The directory distinguishes the news account of her position from an official congressional action.
Mary Peltola, Democrat, Alaska Senate candidate: in a July 28, 2022 Alaska Beacon questionnaire, she answered affirmatively when asked whether she supported Puerto Rico statehood. She later voted for H.R. 8393 as a House member. Her 2026 Senate candidacy is separate from her former House service. The statement is dated 2022; we do not relabel it as a new 2026 pledge.
Chris Pappas also appears under candidates because he is running for the New Hampshire Senate seat. His verified entry concerns his H.R. 8393 vote. We do not infer an explicit statehood preference from that vote alone.
Puerto Rican communities: context, not a vote forecast
The directory uses the Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimates, table B03001, for residents of Puerto Rican origin. Florida’s estimate is 1,245,819; New York’s is 1,004,934; Pennsylvania’s is 481,068; California’s is 222,082. Each profile displays its state’s estimate and margin of error.
These are statewide population estimates covering all ages. They are not counts of registered voters, eligible voters, congressional-district residents, or people who support statehood. The same state number appears for several representatives because it describes the state, not each member’s district. Adding those repeated numbers would double-count people. The survey period also precedes the 2026 election.
State-by-state population reference
Florida: 1,245,819 ± 16,401 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
Nebraska: 6,354 ± 801 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
New York: 1,004,934 ± 12,759 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
Pennsylvania: 481,068 ± 7,859 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
California: 222,082 ± 5,881 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
New Hampshire: 19,968 ± 1,555 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
New Mexico: 10,970 ± 1,094 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
Oregon: 16,163 ± 1,369 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
Hawaii: 47,134 ± 2,141 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
Alaska: 6,957 ± 842 residents of Puerto Rican origin.
NAPREC analysis: accountability makes the record useful
NAPREC advocates equality through statehood. In our view, the strongest public resource makes that position clear while allowing readers to examine the evidence independently. A useful conversation asks which legislative mechanism an official supported, what conditions it contained, and what action would follow a vote by Puerto Rico’s people.
Coalitions can cross party lines without eliminating disagreements about procedure. Historical support matters, but it cannot substitute for checking a current proposal. Likewise, a growing community deserves accurate information without being portrayed as politically uniform. The directory is designed to help readers ask informed questions of public officials and candidates, with the original record one click away.
Open the directory → · Explore NAPREC civic tools →
Method and corrections
Membership and party: current House Clerk and Senate directories. Legislative evidence: GovInfo and House roll call 529. Candidate evidence: the dated sources linked above. Population: ACS five-year B03001 estimate and published margin of error. Portraits are identified by their source; they do not imply endorsement of NAPREC. Selection is illustrative, not comprehensive. Send a documented correction to comms@naprec.org.