By Pat Davis, New Mexico Political Report — President Donald Trump officially endorsed Republican Greg Cunningham’s bid for Congress in a social media post today where the president once again called on New Mexicans to rename the state “New America” and mispronounced the Hispanic pronunciation of current Democratic Congressman Gabe Vasquez’s name.
This story was originally published at New Mexico Political Report, a nonprofit news service covering politics and policy in the Land of Enchantment. Learn more and support our work at nmreports.org
Trump said Cunningham is “running against a radical left Democrat, Gabe Vasquez” but the president mispronounced the name calling him “Vas-QUEZ.” Like other Hispanic names of similar format, Vasquez’s family name is pronounced “VASS-kez” – with a silent q.
Mid-post, Trump also said he still supports renaming New Mexico to New America, though he told New Mexicans the decision was “up to you. I’m not going to push it.”
Vasquez’s campaign has repeatedly tried to connect Cunningham, a retired police officer from Albuquerque, to Trump but this is the first time Trump has directly done so himself. Cunningham recently appeared as a featured candidate at the Republican Party’s national mid-term convention in Texas.
New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District flipped between Democrat and Republican representatives for years before redistricting in 2022 altered the district’s lines to add more Democrats from Albuquerque’s Westside. Still, Trump narrowly won the district in the presidential race in 2024. While still a tight race, the seat is rated “Lean Democrat” by the Cook Political Report which tracks political races.