A Democratic congressional candidate has sued Palm Beach County to halt all spending on the renaming of Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump.
Victoria Doyle, running for the newly numbered 23rd Congressional District, said millions in taxpayer money could be wasted if a separate, pending lawsuit over the rename — filed by 83-year-old pilot George Poncy — succeeds.
“I don’t want the county to spend any taxpayer money on renaming the airport until the merits of Mr. Poncy’s lawsuit are decided,” Doyle said on May 20.
Poncy sued the state in April to block the rename on constitutional grounds, arguing that the change is legally flawed and operationally dangerous. He joined Doyle outside the West Palm Beach courthouse on May 20, six weeks before the change is set to take effect.
“We’re telling the county: Stop, do nothing, spend no money, change no signage,” said Doyle, a trademark attorney who left her law practice to run for Congress.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law mandating the name change in March. Poncy, who is representing himself and used artificial intelligence to draft his complaint, said the law violates Florida’s constitution, which protects counties’ rights to govern their own affairs.
Where Poncy’s lawsuit targets state officials, Doyle’s focuses on county commissioners. They voted May 5 to enter a trademark license agreement with a Trump-affiliated Delaware company and with Trump personally.
Doyle said commissioners caved to a mandate she believes most residents in the majority-Democratic county would reject outright if put to a vote.
“Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislature forced a name change on us that we don’t want,” Doyle said. “Unfortunately, the commissioners did not have the strength or the will to push back.”
Doyle said she hopes a judge will bar the county from acting while Poncy’s case proceeds. She argued the county faces no meaningful hardship from a temporary delay while she, as a taxpayer, faces irreversible harm if millions are spent on a name change that’s later struck down.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Congressional candidate sues county to stop Trump PBI airport renaming
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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