In his final campaign speech, Donald Trump promised to work with Democratic mayors and governors if reelected. But just hours after the former president was predicted to take back the White House, some blue state leaders were actively plotting against him.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, one of President Trump’s fiercest critics, on Thursday announced his state’s legal defense to pre-empt Republican policies on immigration, the environment, LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive health. called for a special legislative session to devote more resources to the
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, one of Trump’s most aggressive opponents in his first term, are working to “defend the fundamental freedoms of New Yorkers from any potential threat.” , promised to strengthen cooperation between the two offices.
And attorneys general in blue states are prepared to take Mr. Trump to court — just as his predecessors did hundreds of times during his first administration.
If President Trump’s re-election symbolizes a realignment in American politics, blue state leaders are the counterweight they played during his first administration as the party considers a national rejection. He has chosen to resume his role and return to his original form to counter it.
“We have been speaking with attorneys general across the country for months to prepare, plan and strategize for the possibility of this day,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday at a press conference in San Francisco. said.
Trump’s two-year campaign to retake the White House, and months of polling that showed he was likely to succeed, will give Democrats more protection for the conservative policies they lacked in 2016. lead time. And they are using his campaign’s calls for mass deportations and deregulation as a guide, as well as Project 2025, the Republican administration’s conservative blueprint that Trump has distanced himself from. There is. Dozens of former government officials were involved in the operation..
Governors and legislators in several blue states have already passed laws strengthening reproductive rights since fall 2019. egg And in response to further legal threats to reproductive health, it stockpiled the abortion drug mifepristone. President Trump has vowed to veto a nationwide abortion ban, but this does not alleviate Democrats’ concerns. And as he races toward a second term, they rushed to address other areas of concern and pushed for ballot measures to protect same-sex marriage, worker rights, and other liberal causes. .
While he briefly promised to work across the aisle in the final stages of the campaign, Mr. Trump also vowed to punish his political opponents, with leaders of many blue states at the top of his list of opponents. There is. On Friday, the president-elect slammed Newsom for calling a special session.
“Governor Gavin Newscome is trying to kill our beautiful California,” President Trump said in a post Friday. society of truthused a mocking nickname for the governor. “He’s using the term ‘Trump-proof’ as a way to stop all the great things he could do to ‘Make California Great Again.’
So Democratic governors and attorneys general, who have spent months strategizing how to protect their states’ progressive policies from a possible second term for President Trump, are stepping up their efforts. I’m letting you do it.
Some governors are discussing how to ensure federal funding for state businesses reaches their coffers before President Trump takes office, when Republicans could take full control of the Legislature, Democrats said. A person working in the governor’s office spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The discussion echoes concerns among some Democrats that Republicans could suspend or even eliminate spending from President Joe Biden’s flagship programs: chips and curbing inflation act.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also said Thursday that he has spoken with other Democratic governors after the election about how to most effectively position their states against President Trump.
“There are many people whose lives and livelihoods are in danger, and many who saw the incident and cried. [election] Because they know how it affects their families,” Pritzker said at a press conference Thursday.
He also warned, “You are coming for my people, and you are coming through me.”
In California, where Democratic leaders became some of the de facto leaders of the Trump resistance movement after the 2016 presidential election, officials were already in the midst of a hostile federal government even before Mr. Newsom convened special legislation. In preparation, he spent months strengthening the state’s climate policy and disaster preparedness. session.
“The freedoms we cherish in California are under attack,” Newsom declared in a statement. “And we cannot afford to sit idly by.”
In New York, Hochul and James launched the Empire State Freedom Initiative. It’s a program aimed at addressing “policy and regulatory threats” from the incoming Trump administration, including those to reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, gun safety and environmental justice. The governor of New York also proposed legislation and signaled his intention to take executive action in response to Trump’s victory, but he did not provide details.
“New York will remain a bastion of freedom and the rule of law,” Hochul said. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that New York remains a bulwark against efforts that are denying these rights in other states.”
Mr. James could have a huge impact on how Mr. Trump’s policies ripple through New York. The Democrat, who was first elected in 2018, sued President Trump’s real estate business on fraud charges. She won a $450 million judgment, which is currently on appeal.
Meanwhile, state prosecutors, who often played a front-line role against the most controversial executive orders of Trump’s last term, sought to block Trump’s travel restrictions from some Muslim-majority countries. They are united in opposing President Trump’s plan to lower vehicle emissions standards. We have been preparing for a long time to once again function as a legal bulwark.
Attorney General Bonta told Politico that in California, state attorneys are carefully preparing for Trump’s return, drafting briefs, considering specific legal arguments, and deciding on a favorable venue. He said he is working on the matter until it reaches the point of discussion.
“If he takes office and follows the law and does not violate the Constitution and other important laws like the Administrative Procedure Act, which he continued to violate last time, then we “There’s nothing we can do,” Bonta said. “But if he violates the law, as he says he will, as Project 2025 says he will, we will be ready. …We even looked into the details of which court to file the claim in.”
In New Jersey, state Attorney General Matt Platkin cited mass deportation and called it an “aggressive interpretation.” comstock law” Potential causes of litigation include the imposition of abortion bans and “clean water wastewater protections.”
“If you look at what the president and his associates said during the campaign…if you read Project 2025, you’ll see that it includes proposals that are clearly illegal and undermine the rights of people,” Platkin said. I mentioned it in my paper. Interview.
And in Massachusetts, first-term Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office is preparing to counter threats to reproductive, LGBTQ+, immigrant rights and the student loan forgiveness program, among other things.
In response to a request for comment, Trump’s team said in a statement: “The American people re-elected President Trump by a wide margin and gave him a mandate to deliver on the promises he made during his campaign. He will deliver.”
Democrats’ rush to reform the resistance to Trump is partly self-serving. The governors and state prosecutors who took office during President Trump’s first term increased their national profile in the process.
In some cases, they were able to push their opponents into senior positions. Maura Healey of Massachusetts used her case against Trump as attorney general to contribute to her 2022 gubernatorial campaign. California’s Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general, currently serves as the Biden administration’s secretary of health and human services and is eyeing a run for governor. And for Democrats who have been waiting for a chance to break out of the party’s ranks, Trump’s second term offers a new chance for a potential star to emerge ahead of the opening of the 2028 presidential primaries. .
In a sense, that push has already begun. Several blue state leaders held press conferences on Wednesday and Thursday to reassure anxious voters, in part as a way to establish themselves as leaders in the anti-Trump fight. Wednesday, Healy It was on MSNBC He has vowed that state police will not be involved in carrying out the mass deportations Trump has promised, taking control of the national platform in a rare manner since he challenged Trump in court as attorney general.
But there was also recognition among top city and state Democrats that they needed to find a way to work with Trump, especially on infrastructure projects that often depend on large amounts of federal funding.
“If it goes against our values, we’re going to fight to the death,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said at a Wednesday news conference about the election results. “If there’s an opportunity to find common ground, we’re going to seize it before anyone else.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams similarly pledged to find ways to partner with the incoming administration, citing infrastructure as an area for future cooperation.
“I communicated with the president yesterday and told him there are a number of issues here in the city that I would like to work with the administration to address,” Adams said at a news conference Thursday. “The city has to move forward.”
Holly Otterbein, Melanie Mason, Nick Reisman, Daniel Han, Maya Kaufman, Shia Kapos and Kelly Garrity contributed to this report.