President Donald Trump is promoting the idea of renaming New Mexico “New America,” posting multiple images of the proposed name and drawing immediate opposition from Democratic leaders in the state.
Trump repeatedly shared maps on Truth Social over the Labor Day weekend depicting New Mexico with its current name removed and replaced by “New America.” The White House also amplified one of the images through its official social media account.
The president said Sunday that the idea had been suggested to him by supporters and indicated that he approved of it.
“So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!” Trump wrote.
Reuters independently reported that Trump promoted the proposed change while sharing several maps identifying the state as “New America.” The proposal comes amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and Mexico.
One image shared by Trump showed the word “Mexico” crossed out and replaced with “America,” while another AI-generated video depicted the president changing a roadside New Mexico sign himself.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) quickly rejected the idea, arguing that the state’s historic name was not open for reconsideration.
“It’s been ours since before the United States existed,” Lujan Grisham said before criticizing the administration on a series of unrelated economic and foreign-policy issues.
The governor later highlighted policies pursued by Democrats in New Mexico involving childcare, higher education, health care and housing.
“While the White House wastes time coloring on maps, Nuevo México is busy doing the work,” Lujan Grisham said.
The dispute marks another chapter in Trump’s push to change the names used by the federal government for prominent geographic locations.
His administration previously directed federal agencies to use “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico and later moved to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
Renaming a state, however, presents a substantially different legal issue.
Article I of the New Mexico Constitution explicitly states, “The name of this state is New Mexico.”
Axios reported that a president cannot unilaterally change a state’s official name. Doing so would require New Mexico to amend its own constitution through the state’s constitutional process.
A president could potentially direct federal agencies to use a different terminology internally, but such an order would not by itself legally rename the state or require New Mexico officials and other non-federal entities to adopt it, per Trending Politics.
New Mexico became the 47th state on Jan. 6, 1912, following congressional authorization for the territory to establish a state government and constitution.
Trump’s proposal also drew opposition from New Mexico’s two Democratic US senators.
“Three things I will always call by their actual names… The Gulf of Mexico Lake Ontario New Mexico,” New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich (D) wrote.
New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D) responded more sharply, writing, “It’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be,” before directing an insult and accusation of corruption at Trump.
Reuters reported that the proposal has also encountered criticism from New Mexico residents and historians who view the existing name as an important part of the state’s cultural and historical identity.
Trump’s New Mexico posts were part of a broader series of maps, memes and territorial images he shared during the Labor Day weekend.
For now, “New America” remains a proposal promoted by Trump rather than an official name change. Any formal effort to replace “New Mexico” would face legal requirements that cannot be accomplished through presidential action alone.
