Elon Musk said making Puerto Rico a US state would help Democrats consolidate power, listing the island's statehood alongside DC statehood, mass legalization of undocumented residents, and Supreme Court expansion as the three actions he predicted a Democratic government would take.^[1] A day later, in a statement filed Oct. 31, he sharpened the warning: making Puerto Rico a state would be the end of the United States.^[2] In the Oct. 30 post, Musk warned that a clean Democratic sweep of the House, Senate and presidency in 2028 would lead the party to make Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico states to gain a strong majority in the Senate.^[3][4] Preventing that, he wrote, required 51 Republican senators in 2029, which is why he urged voters to support Republican Senate candidates.^[5][6] Puerto Rican Republicans rejected the argument.^[7] Vianca Rodriguez said Puerto Rico would not automatically be a Democratic state, and one island Republican noted that Puerto Rico elected Republican officials in 2024.^[8][9] Statehood itself would not reserve Senate seats for either party.^[10] Puerto Rico remains a United States territory.^[11] People born on the island have held US citizenship since 1917, residents cannot vote for US president while living there, and the territory has no US senators and no House representative who can vote on final legislation.^[12][13][14] The clash lands in an active status debate: on Oct. 16, Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon signed a legislative measure requesting Puerto Rico be admitted as a United States state.^[15] The signed measure is House Joint Resolution 391, which she described as the first official statehood request from Puerto Rico's government and which will be sent to President Donald Trump and all US Congress members.^[16][17][18] The statehood measure also drew criticism at home: Resident Commissioner Pablo Jose Hernandez said the government should prioritize utilities over status change.^[19] None of the exchanges changes the island's status, which only Congress can: the US Congress holds the constitutional authority to admit new states.^[20]