The Florida House of Representatives passed a bill 78-27 on Thursday that would amend state statues to replace all mentions of “Gulf of Mexico” with “Gulf of America,” aligning Florida law with the federal government's designation begun by the Trump administration.
Reps. Tyler Sirois (R-Merritt Island) and Meg Weinberger (R-Palm Beach Gardens) sponsored the bill (HB 575) in the House. Sen. Nick DiCeglie (R-St. Petersburg) filed a similar Senate bill (SB 608).
Rep. Weinberger explained the reasoning for the bill on the House floor.
"The body of water formally known as the Gulf of Mexico is important to our great nation and vital to reestablishing the American energy independence, food independence, maintaining interstate and international commerce," Weinberger said.
"These are all crucial to maintaining sovereignty and national security. Renaming this body of water the Gulf of America is not a matter of name; it's a powerful step that puts America first and wholeheartedly supports Donald J Trump and the America First agenda," Weinberger added.
Democrats were less than overjoyed.
Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), in a bit of jest, suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of Endor", a reference to the forest moon in the Star Wars franchise. She also suggested renaming the I-4 corridor running through Central Florida the "Kessel Run", a smuggling route in the aforementioned Star Wars films.
"Candidly, I do feel like what we're doing with this is just unnecessary, it's not popular among the voters, and it's feeding into a really hostile political climate," Eskamani said.
Another Democrat, Rep. Ashley Gantt (D-Miami), bluntly stated the rest of the world will still call the body of water the Gulf of Mexico regardless of Florida and America's change.
Gantt also said the name change was grammatically incorrect and should be Gulf of Americas, noting Mexico is in North America.
Sen. DiCeglie's bill is awaiting Senate approval.
If fully passed and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, HB 575/SB 608 would take effect on July 1.
