President Donald Trump renewed his call to rename New Mexico in a video endorsing Republican Greg Cunningham for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
In the nearly two-minute video posted Saturday on Truth Social, Trump twice referred to his previous posts proposing to change New Mexico’s name to “New America.”
The Sept. 6 Truth Social post showed a map of New Mexico with the word Mexico crossed out and the word America inserted, drawing attention and condemnation from Democrats in September.
In his Saturday, Oct. 3 video Trump said, “Hello New America, formerly known as New Mexico.” Later in the video, Trump again floated the name change.
“I do like the change, by the way, to New America. What a beautiful change that would be. Up to you. I’m not going to push it, but a lot of people are liking it,” he said. Elsewhere in the video, Trump referred to New Mexico by its current name.
New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, accused Trump of being “delusionally fixated on renaming our state and erasing our heritage,” according to a press release Sunday from the New Mexico House Democratic Caucus.
Cunningham, a retired Marine and former Albuquerque police officer, called the focus on Trump’s suggested renaming of New Mexico a distraction in a statement to the Roswell Tribune Monday. He is seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., in the Nov. 3 election.
Trump’s video also voiced his “complete and total endorsement” of Cunningham.
“Democrats are using this issue to distract from their horrible record, and Gabe Vasquez is leading the way,” Cunningham said of the question of renaming New Mexico. “The president knows that, unlike Gabe Vasquez, I’ll fight to secure our border, back our law enforcement, cut middle class taxes for working families and stand up for New Mexico’s oil and gas workers.”
Trump initially endorsed Cunningham in April before the June primary. Soon after the endorsement, fellow Republican Jose Orozco dropped out of the race, but his name remained on the ballot because the withdrawal deadline had passed. Cunningham won the nomination with 85% of the vote to Orozco’s 15%.
“Greg Cunningham will never ever let you down. He’s outstanding. In Congress, Greg will vote for the strong borders and total American energy dominance that we’ve created,” Trump said Saturday. He also called Vasquez “a far left Democrat.”
Vasquez criticized Cunningham as beholden to Trump in a video posted on Facebook Sunday.
“It is obvious why President Trump is supporting my opponent: I’m for New Mexico, while my opponent is for President Trump,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez and Cunningham are in a competitive race for the 2nd Congressional District, which spans much of southern New Mexico and extends north into Albuquerque’s Westside.
A SurveyUSA poll conducted for KOB-TV in late August and early September showed Vasquez leading Cunningham 46% to 43%, with 11% undecided. The poll surveyed 554 likely voters. Vasquez’s three-point lead falls within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
