Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) drew laughter at a congressional debate after saying he was unaware of President Donald Trump's order renaming Lake Ontario — an order signed just hours earlier amid a trade war with Canada.

The exchange came Thursday at the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs, during a debate hosted by KOAA News5 between the candidates in Colorado's 5th Congressional District. Colorado Politics reporter Ernest Luning put the question to both contenders. Crank, a first-term Republican who won the seat in 2024 after Rep. Doug Lamborn retired, and Killin are competing in November's midterm election in a Colorado Springs-centered district.

"Lake Ontario or Lake America? The president issued an order changing the name of Lake Ontario," Luning asked.

"Lake Ontario," answered Jessica Killin, Crank's Democratic challenger.

"I'm unaware of — what's the reference?" Crank said, drawing laughter and groans from the audience.

"He did this morning. He changed the name to Lake America," Luning told him.

"I don't know. I — I have other more pressing issues I'm working on. Goodness!" Crank replied, prompting the debate crowd to erupt once again.

Minutes earlier, Luning had asked the same pair whether the body of water to the south is the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America. The question echoed Trump's day-one executive order in January 2025 renaming the Gulf of Mexico, a change federal mapmakers adopted but Mexico has never recognized. Killin said, "Gulf of Mexico." Crank answered, "Gulf of America," and moderator Alasyn Zimmerman of KOAA had to call for order over the reaction that followed: "Audience, please!"

Trump signed the Lake Ontario order after imposing 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods, according to Axios. The order directs the Interior Department to update federal maps within 30 days. Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the five Great Lakes, sits on the U.S.-Canada border between New York and the province of Ontario, making the unilateral rename part of an escalating naming dispute between the two countries.

"Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always," Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote, per NBC News.

Crank was also deferential to Trump's name for the Department of Defense at Thursday's debate. "Department of War," he told the moderators. Killin pointed out that no act of Congress had changed the name. Trump designated "Department of War" as a secondary name for the Pentagon by executive order in September 2025, but formally renaming a Cabinet department requires an act of Congress.