At a Trump rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, a comedian described Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage.” While offensive, it was not surprising. After alljollibet, as president, Donald Trump threw paper towels to people at a relief center there and casually mused about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland.

The remarks may well spur Puerto Ricans residing in the 50 states to the polls. But those on the island, who have no vote in U.S. presidential elections even as they must live with their consequences, are flexing their power in the local elections, with the aim of charting a new chapter in the island’s history.

While many Americans head into election week with fear or resignation, Puerto Ricans are experiencing something unfamiliar: hope. For the first time, in the governor’s race a progressive pro-independence candidate, Juan Dalmau, is virtually tied with a pro-statehood candidate, Jenniffer González-Colón. If elected, he would be the first pro-independence governor in Puerto Rico’s history, which is significant, given the island’s painful history of nationalist surveillance and repression.

And yet what has made his campaign so powerful and even groundbreaking is that it doesn’t center on changing Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship to the United States. Mr. Dalmau’s platform focuses on making Puerto Rico livable for its people. It’s about reclaiming dignity amid relentless crises — financial, infrastructural and environmental. It’s about rejecting the idea that we must flee our homeland in order to thrive. And it’s about tackling corruption to put our own house in order before reckoning with our relationship to the United States.

Mr. Dalmau is running as part of a new alliance between the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizens’ Victory Movement. The two have united in a progressive coalition that seeks to break with the usual tribalism of Puerto Rican politics. Their platform spotlights tackling corruption, restoring the electric grid as a public utility and prioritizing local entrepreneurs over foreign investors and opportunistic tax dodgers.

If elected, he has promised to establish a National Status Assembly, where elected delegates would negotiate directly with Congress to establish transition plans for each status option and a binding referendum. Meanwhile, Ms. González-Colón, who aligns with MAGA Republicans and downplays their offensive language, pledges to advocate solely statehood.

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