Trump’s call to rename New Mexico ‘New America’ is a distraction tactic, Democrats say
The Guardian US
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The Guardian US
Original Source
Democrats have criticized President Trump's proposal to rename New Mexico as "New America," accusing him of using the issue as a distraction from his military actions in Iran and rising consumer prices. The push comes as part of a broader pattern of renaming geographic landmarks since Trump's return to office.
Democrats have hit back against Donald Trump’s suggestion that the state of New Mexico should be renamed “New America”, accusing the US president of trying to distract from his war on Iran and rising prices.
The administration moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” hours after Trump’s return to office in January 2025. In August, as trade tensions escalated between the US and Canada, it moved to do the same with Lake Ontario, moving to rename it as “Lake America”.
The president spent Labor Day posting memes on social media platform in support of changing the name of the state of New Mexico to “New America” as tense trade negotiations with Mexico ramp up.
On Sunday Trump claimed that he had received suggestions to change the name of the state and that he liked the idea. “So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Wow, I Love It!!!”
The US federal government has no authority to change a state’s name. Any renaming would require New Mexico voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution through a ballot measure. The state is currently governed by Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat. She has been in the job since 1 January 2019, and was re-elected in 2022.
The governor said in a post on X: “New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate – it’s been ours since before the United States existed.”
“While the President tries to distract Americans from his disastrous war in Iran, gas prices keep soaring,” she wrote. “Americans are also spending more at the grocery store, losing access to health care and wondering if they’ll ever be able to afford a home.”
New Mexico’s senior senator, Martin Heinrich, blasted the president’s recent efforts to rename bodies of water via executive order. “Three things I will always call by their actual names,” Heinrich wrote. “The Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico.”
His colleague in the Senate, Ben Ray Luján, echoed the sentiment.
“It’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be,” he said, adding that Trump will “always be a sinvergüenza” – a spanish word for scoundrel – and “corrupt”.
Melanie Stansbury, one New Mexico’s Democratic US House representatives, was also resolute. “WE ARE NOT CHANGING OUR NAME!” she said in a video, standing on the banks of the Rio Grande, which runs through the state. “New Mexico is New Mexico. We are fiercely proud of our name, our people, and our places, including this river.”
Even Greg Hull, the Republican nominee running to replace Grisham, who is term-limited, denounced the president’s suggestion. “New Mexico does not need a new name. This state carries the history of Native nations and Spanish explorers who named this land nearly five hundred years ago, and generations of families who built New Mexico into what it is today. That identity is not up for negotiation,” Hull said in a statement to Santa Fe Public Radio.
The administration moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” hours after Trump’s return to office in January 2025. In August, as trade tensions escalated between the US and Canada, it moved to do the same with Lake Ontario, moving to rename it as “Lake America”.
The president spent Labor Day posting memes on social media platform in support of changing the name of the state of New Mexico to “New America” as tense trade negotiations with Mexico ramp up.
On Sunday Trump claimed that he had received suggestions to change the name of the state and that he liked the idea. “So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Wow, I Love It!!!”
The US federal government has no authority to change a state’s name. Any renaming would require New Mexico voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution through a ballot measure. The state is currently governed by Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat. She has been in the job since 1 January 2019, and was re-elected in 2022.
The governor said in a post on X: “New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate – it’s been ours since before the United States existed.”
“While the President tries to distract Americans from his disastrous war in Iran, gas prices keep soaring,” she wrote. “Americans are also spending more at the grocery store, losing access to health care and wondering if they’ll ever be able to afford a home.”
New Mexico’s senior senator, Martin Heinrich, blasted the president’s recent efforts to rename bodies of water via executive order. “Three things I will always call by their actual names,” Heinrich wrote. “The Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico.”
His colleague in the Senate, Ben Ray Luján, echoed the sentiment.
“It’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be,” he said, adding that Trump will “always be a sinvergüenza” – a spanish word for scoundrel – and “corrupt”.
Melanie Stansbury, one New Mexico’s Democratic US House representatives, was also resolute. “WE ARE NOT CHANGING OUR NAME!” she said in a video, standing on the banks of the Rio Grande, which runs through the state. “New Mexico is New Mexico. We are fiercely proud of our name, our people, and our places, including this river.”
Even Greg Hull, the Republican nominee running to replace Grisham, who is term-limited, denounced the president’s suggestion. “New Mexico does not need a new name. This state carries the history of Native nations and Spanish explorers who named this land nearly five hundred years ago, and generations of families who built New Mexico into what it is today. That identity is not up for negotiation,” Hull said in a statement to Santa Fe Public Radio.
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Source: The Guardian US
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