U.S. President Donald Trump told a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday that he wants to rename New Mexico “New America,” repeating a proposal he made on social media four days earlier and that the state’s Democratic leaders have rejected.
Trump spoke at Alico Arena at Florida Gulf Coast University on Oct. 23 at an event billed as a midterm rally on the Republican event page.
The remark came as Trump listed name changes he has made, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America under a January 2025 executive order. He also told the crowd he had changed “a beautiful lake that’s quite near Canada into Lake America.”
“I’m trying to change New Mexico. You know, it’s a good state that went wayward. They have crooked elections in New Mexico, very crooked elections,” Trump said.
He said a friend who lives in New Mexico is asked for his passport “every time he goes on a plane.” He added: “It’s called New Mexico, but it’s not Mexico. I want to change it to New America.”
“The value of their homes will double,” Trump said, comparing the idea to the Gulf of America. “The whole shoreline is booming. They’re selling T-shirts. They’re selling everything. They never sold anything.”
Trump did not offer evidence at the rally for his claims about New Mexico’s elections or home values.
On Oct. 19, Trump wrote on his Truth Social account: “New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!” He said in the post that “Home Values and Incomes would rise” and that “Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again!”
New Mexico’s constitution states in Article I that “The name of this state is New Mexico,” according to the state constitution published by the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham responded to the Oct. 19 post the same evening. “New Mexico was New Mexico long before the United States existed and we’ll be New Mexico forevermore,” she wrote in a post on X. “Independent experts say our elections are among the most secure in the nation.”
On Oct. 22, Lujan Grisham wrote in another X post: “Changing New Mexico’s name won’t lower your electricity bill, put food on the table or make health care more affordable. New Mexicans deserve solutions, not distractions.”
Democratic Senator Ben Ray Luján wrote on Oct. 19 in his own post: “We are New Mexicans. We’re proud of our name, proud of our home, and we’re keeping both.”
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who oversees the state’s elections, said in a statement to Source NM that Trump “continues to push tired and patently false narratives about our voting process in New Mexico,” adding that the state has “repeatedly received high national rankings” for its elections.
Trump’s statements that New Mexico has “very crooked elections” and that home values would “double” under a new name are his own claims. State officials have disputed his description of the state’s elections, and Trump presented no evidence at the rally. As of Saturday, New Mexico officials had not responded specifically to the Fort Myers remarks, though they had rejected the proposal earlier in the week.