Puerto Rico's delegates called for the island to become a U.S. state. Here's the context

NPR | By Jaclyn Diaz

Published August 20, 2024 at 10:45 PM EDT

Members of the Puerto Rico delegation cast their votes during the roll call.

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Delegates from Puerto Rico referred to the island territory as "the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the next state of the United States" before casting their votes for Kamala Harris during Tuesday night's roll call.

Puerto Rico's relations with the U.S. have been fraught ever since the U.S. acquired the island in 1898 following the Spanish-American War.

In recent years, there's been a growing movement for Puerto Rico to become a state, especially after Hurricane Maria's disastrous impact on the island — including destroying huge portions of the food supply. Additionally, Puerto Ricans have a limited voice in the federal government, they don't have full voting representation in Congress and cannot vote in the presidential elections.

There's another fight among Puerto Ricans, which goes back to when it was first acquired by the U.S., demanding full independence for the territory.

The island has voted for statehood a number of times — including in 2012, 2017 and 2020 — but Congress must grant statehood and it has not.