re: #73 Belafon

Why is Hawaii a state but Puerto Rico isn’t?

Hawaii was a territory for about 60 years. Then in the 1950s there was widespread support for statehood. There has never really been widespread support for statehood in Puerto Rico. Usually the population splits evenly between statehood, independence, and the current status. I suspect that will change now, but it is incredibly unclear how the politics in Washington will play out if there is a true consensus for either statehood or independence.