GOP Effort To Rename Dulles Airport After Trump Resurfaces

DULLES, VA — A freshman Republican Congressman has filed a bill to rename Washington Dulles International Airport for President Donald Trump. A similar effort last year died when Democrats controlled the U.S. House of Representatives.

If approved by Congress, the airport would then be named Donald J. Trump International Airport, according to the bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.). Co-sponsors of the bill are Reps. Guy Reschanthaler (R-Pa.), Brian Jack (R-Ga.), Riley Morre (R-W.Va.) and Brandon Gill (R-Texas).

"We have entered the golden age of America largely thanks to President Trump's leadership,” McDowell said in a news release. "It is only right that the two airports servicing our nation's capital are duly honored and respected by two of the best presidents to have the honor of serving our great nation.”

Reschanthaler was among the House Republicans who proposed a similar bill, which was introduced in early April 2024, The Hill reported.

He said the bill “will cement [Trump’s] status in our nation’s capital as our fearless commander-in-chief, extraordinary leader, and relentless champion for the American people.”

Last year, Patch posted a survey asking Virginia readers what they thought of the proposal to rename Dulles after Trump. The response was a resounding "No."

Of the 2,526 responses received, 2,369 readers (93.8 percent) said "No," compared to 157 readers (6.2 percent) who said "Yes."

• Related: Donald J. Trump Airport In Dulles? Patch Readers Weigh In On Proposal

Dulles Airport was named after former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who served during the Eisenhower administration. The facility was formally dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on November 17, 1962; the airport was renamed Washington Dulles International Airport in 1984.

Patch readers suggested a long list of alternative names for the airport, if it were to be renamed.

The suggestions included former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Joe Biden; politicians John Warner, Mitt Romney, John McCain and former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor; and former First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt and Melania Trump.

Aviation-inspired names included the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, NASA scientist Katherine Johnson and Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot who ditched U.S. Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River in 2009.

Several civil rights leaders as well as people who fought to free enslaved Americans were suggested, such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.