Florida will spend $2.75 million on renaming Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump after Gov. Ron DeSantis declined to include the earmark among his $1.6 billion in vetoes.
The nonrecurring funds, which lawmakers agreed to during a budget Special Session last month, will cover the cost of campuswide signage replacements, equipment and vehicle rebranding, uniform and marketing updates, and changes to overhead announcements, emergency messaging and passenger processing systems.
DeSantis signed the budget, which totaled $117.6 billion. During a news conference before the signing, the Governor said he prioritized funding “things that we have to have” while vetoing items “either inappropriate or maybe nice to have.”
He did not specifically address the soon-to-be rechristened “Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
But even before Monday’s budget signing, it appeared all but certain the rebranding would succeed. In March, DeSantis signed legislation (HB 919) approving the renaming.
Palm Beach Gardens Rep. Meg Weinberger — dubbed “MAGA Meg” for the support she has shown and received from Trump and his backers — sponsored the measure in the House with St. Augustine Rep. Kim Kendall, a fellow Republican.
“This is a tribute to his leadership, his legacy,” Weinberger told Florida Politics about the bill, adding that the airport’s proximity to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort made the designation appropriate. “You know how much he loves our country, and it’s his hometown.”
Melbourne Republican Sen. Debbie Mayfield, who also carried the state appropriation request, sponsored the bill’s Senate companion.
The House passed the measure 81-30, while Senators approved it 25-11, both on party-line votes.
Notably, the rebranding is a departure from historic norms. While U.S. airports have been named after former Presidents during their lifetimes — including Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton — there has not previously been a case of a major airport being renamed for a sitting President.
It has happened outside of America, including in Nigeria, which renamed an airport in Minna after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2024.
In mid-February, Republicans in the Senate blocked an amendment by Miami Gardens Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones aimed at preventing Trump from profiting off the airport’s name.
County officials, who approved the renaming last month, estimated the necessary work will reach about $5.5 million.
Mayfield sought that exact sum. The Legislature ultimately decided on half that.
