New Mexico Leaders Reject Trump's Proposal to Rename State to 'New America'
Political leaders in the US state of New Mexico have rejected a social media post by President Donald Trump proposing that the state’s name be changed to ‘New America’, according to reports from NBC News on Monday.
New Mexico’s Democratic Governor, Michelle Lujan Grassyham, stated that the name ‘New Mexico’ does not need to be debated, asserting that the name existed even before the United States was established. “While the White House wastes time scribbling on maps, Nuevo Mexico is busy performing its duties,” she wrote on X, referencing the Spanish pronunciation of the name.
Trump posted several images on Truth Social over the weekend and into Monday, depicting New Mexico as ‘New America’. One of these was an AI-generated image showing Trump installing a sign reading ‘New America’ over a ‘Welcome to New Mexico’ sign.
“Many people are suggesting changing the name of New Mexico, one of the states with the greatest election fraud of all time, to NEW AMERICA,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland also rejected the proposal. Similar opposition was expressed by his Republican opponent, Gregg Hull, who stated that the state’s identity is “not up for negotiation.”
US Democratic Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan, along with US Representative Melanie Stansbury, also condemned Trump’s posts. “Three things I will always refer to by their real names… Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico,” Heinrich wrote on X.
“This is New Mexico, it always has been and always will be. Just as you will always be a ‘sinvergüenza’ and corrupt,” Lujan added, using the Spanish term for a shameless or unscrupulous person.
“Our state’s name carries the history, culture, and families of many generations—and that name belongs to us. We are citizens of New Mexico. Period,” Stansbury wrote on X.
Notably, the US President cannot unilaterally change the name of a state. The name of New Mexico is established within the state’s constitution, meaning any change would require a constitutional amendment approved by voters.
New Mexico is the 47th US state, having joined the union in 1912, with Santa Fe as its capital and Albuquerque as its largest city. Located in the southwestern United States, it borders Mexico as well as the states of Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.
Previously, Trump has ordered federal agencies to use new names for several geographical features, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and Denali to “Mount McKinley.”