New Mexico leaders reject Trump's suggestion to rename state 'New America'

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said New Mexico's name "isn't up for debate," noting it predates the US itself.

"While the White House wastes time coloring on maps, Nuevo Mexico is busy doing the work," she wrote on US social media company X.

Trump posted several images on Truth Social over the weekend and Monday depicting New Mexico as "New America," including an AI-generated image showing him placing a "New America" sign over a "Welcome to New Mexico" sign.

"Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA," Trump wrote Sunday.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deb Haaland also rejected the proposal, as did her Republican opponent Gregg Hull, who said the state's identity "is not up for negotiation."

Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan and Rep. Melanie Stansbury similarly criticized Trump's posts.

“Three things I will always call by their actual names … The Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico,” wrote Heinrich on X.

“It’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be. Just like how you’ll always be a sinvergüenza and corrupt,” said Lujan, using the Spanish word for scoundrel.

“Our state’s name carries generations of history, culture, and family—and it belongs to us. We’re New Mexicans. Period,” Stansbury said on X.

The president cannot unilaterally rename a US state. New Mexico's name is established in its state constitution, meaning voters would have to approve a constitutional amendment to change it.

Trump has previously ordered federal agencies to use new names for geographic features, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" and Denali as "Mount McKinley."