"Y'all read that ridiculous, stupid tweet by the president of the United States? He says that he's going to name 'New Mexico' 'New America.'"
That was how Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland chose to open her speech at campaign stop in Taos on Sunday afternoon.
The speech was just a few hours after President Trump posted a map on Truth Social that showed the state of New Mexico with the word "Mexico" crossed out and replaced with "America." The official White House account reposted the image on X.
New Mexico Democratic Party Spokeswoman Mila Myles said Trump used the map to draw attention away from kitchen- table issues.
"This whole joke is a distraction to the fact that Trump and Republicans are making life more expensive, while Democrats are focused on what working families across New Mexico actually need: lower grocery prices, accessible health care, an economy built for them," she told KSFR
Myles also called on Haaland's opponent, Republican Greg Hull to denounce Trump's post.
Hull said in a statement Sunday, "New Mexico does not need a new name. 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 is is today. That identity is not up for negotiation." Like the Democratic Party statement, Hull stressed his focus on ensuring the economy benefits working families.
Other prominent New Mexico Democrats quickly took to social media to denounce Trump's proposal to rename the state.
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich said,"Three things I will always call by their actual names... The Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico."
U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury posted "Oh, hell no," on social media and called the map a tactic to divide and distract citizens.
State Republican leadership did not respond to a request for comment by press time. The Piñón Post, a conservative New Mexico news website called the map a joke and said that Democrats took the bait. Republican Greg Cunningham told the Washington Post he expects to release a statement Monday. Cunningham is challenging U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez in the November general election.
