Joe Gruters won’t take Senate down the ‘Gulf of America Trail’

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The Sarasota Republican said the proposal was 'an unnecessary distraction of my own making.'

There won’t be a need for new road signs on U.S. 41 anytime soon.

Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota is withdrawing bill language (SB 1058) that would have named a stretch of highway spanning seven counties after the freshly christened Gulf of America.

The legislation proposed designating the portion of U.S. 41 between S.R. 60 and U.S. 1 in Miami-Dade, Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough counties as “the Gulf of America Trail.”

But the Senator tells WFLA the controversial name change proposal created an “unnecessary distraction of my own making.”

It’s uncertain whether the provision will be addressed by a withdrawn bill or just an amendment. The television station reports that Gruters still intends to pursue another plank of the proposal: requiring School Boards to “adopt and acquire” materials using the Gulf of America name.

This is the second Senate bill to address the Gulf of America nomenclature.

Sen. Nick DiCeglie’s measure (SB 608), which was filed earlier this month, would change 92 statutory references in Florida law to refer to the body of water along Florida’s west coast as the Gulf of America.

Both bills have House companions.

Rep. Juan Porras is carrying the House version (HB 549) of Gruters’ bill. Rep. Tyler Sirois is sponsoring the House version (HB 575) of DiCeglie’s proposal.

Tallahassee Republicans have quickly embraced the new name for the body of water that was called the Gulf of Mexico without controversy until earlier this year.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is backing the President’s preference regarding government documents, pushing for changes on behalf of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Simpson’s goal is to rename the body of water as the Gulf of America “as quickly as possible … in all department administrative rules, forms, maps, and resources.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis was the first state official to use the new name in an executive order declaring a State of Emergency over a Winter storm last month. That order said the inclement weather was headed to Florida across the “Gulf of America.”

The declaration came the same day Trump made the name change official in his own executive order.

Despite the unity demonstrated by Florida Republicans, the name change has been controversial in some quarters domestically and beyond.

The Associated Press hasn’t accepted the Gulf of America designation.

“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” the news organization announced last month.

The AP has not been allowed at certain White House events in the wake of its decision, as the Trump administration has stood by the renaming of the body of water.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also rejects the name change, meanwhile, with her argument predicated on the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles. It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said, as reported by NPR.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


5 comments

  • Michael K

    March 5, 2025 at 1:46 pm

    I just received a tourist promotion guide extolling the wonders of the Gulf of Mexico.

    Shall I notify the State Word and Thought Police to arrest and sue the municipalities promoting the area by its well-established name?

    Asking a friend.

    • Paul Passarelli

      March 5, 2025 at 2:20 pm

      LOL!

      While I support the name change, I would not expect any agency to wastefully discard previously printed materials of this type.

      Tourist brochures are a far cry from official government documents.

  • PeterH

    March 5, 2025 at 2:40 pm

    On a recent trip to Columbia my sister noted that Google Maps indicated the original designation of Gulf of Mexico! It’s kind of fun for the technology industry to change designations for their orange clown only in the USA.

  • MH/Duuuval

    March 5, 2025 at 8:31 pm

    People were laughing up their sleeves by Gruter’s latest MAGA posturing. Guess the message was received.

  • SuzyQ

    March 6, 2025 at 10:29 am

    See how a simple name change can animate leftwing activists, who are so easily distracted because of their hysteria, gender dysphoria and the lack of impulse control. It would be very funny if not for basic human empathy for the mentally ill.

Comments are closed.


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