New Mexico officials reject Trump post proposing state name change

Source New Mexico · Source NM Staff · September 7, 2026

President Donald Trump on Sept. 6, 2026, posted on Truth Social images and text that proposed renaming New Mexico, prompting immediate pushback from Democratic officials. (Screenshot image) New Mexico Democratic elected officials quickly denounced a Sunday post on Truth Social by President Donald Trump that proposed, visually, changing New Mexico’s name to New America.

Trump’s post followed a satirical post that inaccurately claimed he had signed an executive order to that effect, which the fact- checking site Snopes quickly debunked.

The satirical post followed Trump’s renaming, by executive order, Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico to Lake America and the Gulf of America, respectively.

While Trump has not signed an executive order renaming New Mexico, he did post a map that showed the word “Mexico” crossed out in New Mexico’s name and replaced by America in his Truth Social post, which the official White House X account reposted.

Trump, subsequently, wrote on Truth Social: “Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA. So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!”

New Mexico Democratic officials did not share the sentiment.

“Three things I will always call by their actual names,” U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) wrote on social media:

“The Gulf of Mexico

Lake Ontario

New Mexico.”

“It’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be,” U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) wrote. “Just like how you’ll always be a sinvergüenza and corrupt.”

“Oh hell no,” U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, wrote. “Our state’s name carries generations of history, culture, and family—and it belongs to us. We’re New Mexicans. Period.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, of the 2nd Congressional District, in a statement, said, “You don’t get to erase New Mexico. Not our name. Not our history. Not our culture.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, in a social media post, said the state’s name, “isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed. What is up for debate? Who’s showing up for working families.”

Both candidates running to replace Lujan Grisham after her second and final term ends this year, Republican Gregg Hull and Democrat Deb Haaland, also rejected Trump’s suggestion.

“New Mexico does not need a new name,” former Rio Rancho Mayor Hull said in a statement. “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.”

His opponent, former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, in a statement posted on social media, said simply: “You can’t be serious. New Mexico is not for renaming. Not up for sale. My promise: I’ll always stand up for what makes New Mexico, New Mexico.”

September 7, 2026 8:55 am This story was updated following publication to include comments from both of New Mexico Nov. 3 gubernatorial candidates.

Read the full story at Source New Mexico