Socialist Claire Valdez told an interviewer that Puerto Rico deserves representation in Congress “until it is no longer a colony,” calling for the island’s debt to be canceled and its federal oversight board dissolved.
Valdez, the Democrat Party nominee in New York’s 7th Congressional District, laid out the positions in an interview with El Diario. The Queens assemblywoman won her June primary as part of a slate of candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Valdez said she approaches Puerto Rico through what she called a decolonial framework.
“I come to this with a decolonial organizing history and lens,” Valdez said. “And so making sure that Puerto Rico has real representation in Congress … until it is no longer a colony is really, really important.”
The assemblywoman said the island’s finances sit near the top of her priorities. She wants to wipe out its debt and get rid of the board that manages it.
“I think we have to cancel that debt,” Valdez said. She argued that “an elected board making decisions about … the future of the island is not in my opinion a path towards true democracy.”
The board Valdez wants gone was created by Congress under the 2016 PROMESA law. The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico has restructured about 80 percent of the island’s debt. That work cut total liabilities from more than $70 billion to roughly $37 billion. The board says it will save Puerto Rico more than $50 billion in debt payments.
Valdez backs abolishing ICE. She has called the agency “fascist.” She also supports Medicare for All and an end to what she called “forever wars.” On Israel, she said she strongly opposes “the genocide in Gaza.” She has called for the United States to withhold funding from the country.
The socialist also said the island should not host American troops.
“Their land is not being used as a military base, as a platform for forever war and incursions to … Cuba and Venezuela,” Valdez said.
The remarks come weeks after Valdez won her Democrat primary. She took 55.9 percent of the vote and beat Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. She ended her victory party with a message to supporters. “Solidarity forever, abolish ICE, free Palestine, organize your union, and join DSA,” she said.
