This is distinct from shadow delegates, who are elected or appointed from subnational polities of the United States to seek non-voting participation in the House.
[1] The election of shadow congresspersons from the District of Columbia is authorized by a state constitution ratified by D.C. voters in 1982 but was never approved by Congress.
The posts of shadow representatives and senators for Puerto Rico were created in 2017 as part of a newly formed Puerto Rico Equality Commission[5] to fulfill campaign promises made by the New Progressive Party, which gained control of both the executive and legislative branch in the 2016 elections in part with calls for a status referendum in 2017.
Although an effort to overturn Law 167 passed the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico in early 2021 after the Popular Democratic Party gained control of the legislature, it did not have enough votes to sustain a threatened veto from pro-statehood governor Pedro Pierluisi.
The law also appropriated funds for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration to cover the wages of the delegates and serve as their headquarters in Washington, D.C., where they will work on the statehood process with the island's resident commissioner in Congress.