Virginia Democrat slams proposal to name airport after Trump: ‘I’d suggest they find a federal prison’

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on Tuesday criticized a recently-introduced GOP bill that would rename Washington Dulles International Airport after former President Trump.

“Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges,” Connolly, whose district includes a portion of Dulles, said in a statement. “If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison.” 

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) introduced the bill Friday proposing to change the name of Dulles to “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” In a news release on the bill, he said the U.S. “has never been greater than under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump.”

“As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity, and strength than hearing ‘Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil,” Reschenthaler continued.

Dulles — named for former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles — is located in Virginia, more than 25 miles west of central Washington, D.C. It is one of three major airports in the D.C. area, alongside Reagan Washington National Airport, also in Virginia, and the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland. 

Co-sponsors of the bill include GOP Reps. Mike Waltz (Fla.), Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Chuck Fleischmann (Tenn.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Troy Nehls (Texas) and Barry Moore (Ala.). 

Connolly’s fellow Virginian, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D), whose district also partially includes Dulles, also criticized the bill in a post on X, formerly called Twitter.

“This is just another in a long list of instances where extreme House Republicans have shown how unserious & delusional they are,” Wexton said Tuesday. “Let’s get to work on the real issues the American people sent us here for—not renaming an airport after someone who sought to undermine our democracy.”

In an emailed statement to The Hill, Gosar said he “can see no more fitting recognition than naming both airports in our nation’s capital after two of America’s best presidents.”

“I find it laughable the feigned outrage by some on the left concerning the renaming of the Dulles airport after Donald Trump when these same individuals celebrated the renaming of the airport in Little Rock after the corrupt and Predator in Chief [former President Clinton],” Gosar continued. 

Nehls’s office declined to comment when The Hill reached out.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign and the offices of Reps. Reschenthaler, Waltz, Ogles, and Fleischmann.

Updated 3:53 p.m.