Pennsylvania’s lone Great Lake is apparently in need of a rebrand, according to one Republican lawmaker. State Rep. David Maloney has urged President Trump to rename Lake Erie as “Lake Pennsylvania,” arguing the state deserves sole billing on the waterway that borders three other states and Canada, the Hill reports.
“This is Pennsylvania’s only Great Lake. Its modern economy and identity are increasingly tied to the boaters, anglers, families and tourists who come to enjoy it,” Maloney said in a statement. “Ohio has plenty of shoreline. New York already has two Great Lakes. Canada has four others. Pennsylvania has one. Let’s call it Lake Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has roughly 50 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, about as much as Michigan, while Ohio and New York have longer Lake Erie coastlines and the lake’s entire north shore borders Ontario. Maloney argues that Pennsylvania “punches well above its weight” in maintaining the lake’s recreational fishery, the Times Observer reports. “Despite having a relatively small share of the lake’s shoreline, Pennsylvania stocked nearly 500,000 yearling steelhead in 2025–approximately 40% of all steelhead stocked and more than any other state or Canadian province,” his proposed resolution states. “Pennsylvania also supplied all the brown trout stocked into the lake that year.”
Maloney’s resolution asks Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to make the switch, building on Trump’s earlier executive order that rechristened Lake Ontario as “Lake America” amid tensions with Canada over trade. Trump has also floated renaming New Mexico to “New America,” a suggestion that drew backlash from the state’s Democratic lawmakers. The Times Observer reports that Maloney’s proposal is unlikely to get far in Pennsylvania’s Democratic-led House of Representatives.