D.C. statehood activists have always set their sights on making us the 51st state. But given developments on a Caribbean island on Tuesday, we might have to settle for being the 52nd state instead.

In a referendum earlier this week, Puerto Ricans endorsed statehood as a solution to their current identity crisis. According to CBS News, 54 percent of Puerto Ricans came down on the side of statehood, while 46 percent said they favored the status quo, under which the island is a territory in which residents vote in presidential elections, don’t pay personal income taxes and are represented in Congress by a non-voting resident commissioner.

In the lead-up to the presidential election, both candidates said that they would support the will of the Puerto Rican people. Additionally, a Task Force on Puerto Rico created in 2011 by President Obama said that Congress should respect the outcome of any referendum on the island’s status.

Of course, Puerto Rico’s fate holds promise for D.C., doesn’t it? The most recent new states joined the union in pairs, after all. Well, let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. While D.C. voting rights activists in the past have tried to tie the city’s cause to that of the island territory, there are still a number of obstacles to the 51st and 52nd stars being added to the flag.

“I think it’s a little early for us to go down that path, though it does raise some interesting questions,” said Pebro Ribeiro, spokesman for Mayor Vince Gray. “We’re obviously keeping an eye on the situation. It brings to light some possibilities that folks may not have thought of recently.”

First off, it’s not yet clear which way Puerto Rico will choose to go. The referendum was non-binding, for one, and the island’s governor, a fervent supporter of statehood, was replaced by a candidate who is less enamored with the idea. Additionally, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton told WJLA today that she didn’t think that the Puerto Rico-D.C. statehood duet would work.

“This isn’t one-on-one, it’s one-on-six. They would be entitled with their population to six representatives, and some members of Congress have said that they would not entertain them for statehood unless Spanish no longer was the first language. I see more barriers to Puerto Rico than I do to D.C., and I wish it weren’t so,” she said.

There’s one obvious obstacle: Republicans may side with Puerto Rican statehood, but the party platform explicitly opposes it for D.C. Additionally, Puerto Ricans may not want to tie to the causes, especially if opposition to D.C. could sink the island’s chances.

Some local activists see Puerto Rico not as an opportunity, but rather as an example. Local historian and shadow senator candidate Nelson Rimensnyder ran his most recent campaign on making D.C. more like Puerto Rico, a territory in which residents aren’t represented and don’t pay federal taxes. While Rimensnyder didn’t win, his idea isn’t new—as far back as 1994 the D.C. Council endorsed the no-taxation idea.

No matter which way Puerto Rico goes, though, Ribeiro thinks that D.C.’s case on its own. “We’ve certainly earned the right to control our own destiny,” he said.