Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom, a staunch critic of former President Donald Trump, called on legislators on Thursday to convene a special session before another Trump presidency to safeguard the Golden State’s progressive policies. In the meantime, attorneys general in blue states nationwide announced they were gearing up for a legal battle.
The move — the day following the former president’s resounding defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race — effectively reignited California’s resistance campaign against conservative policies that Democratic leaders in the state began during Trump’s first administration.
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” said Newsom, who reportedly has ambitions nationally, in a statement.
Governor Newsom’s office told the Associated Press that the legislators and governor are ready to “Trump-proof” California’s state laws. He called on the state Legislature to meet in December and give the office of the attorney general additional funding to fight federal challenges but didn’t give specifics.
Rob Bonta, state Attorney General, said his office spent the last year reviewing over 120 lawsuits filed by the state during Trump’s first term in preparation for new federal actions.
AG Bonta said to look at the California votes: “We rejected him. We rejected his values. We rejected his agenda.”
The attorney general said his office has been working with Democratic attorneys general nationwide to prepare game plans in anticipation of Trump’s victory. The states could face a more challenging battle this time around with a GOP-dominated Senate and possibly House.
NY governor, attorney general plan legal strategies against Trump
In New York, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul said she, Attorney General Letitia James, and their senior staffers plan to regularly meet to discuss legal options to protect “key areas that are most likely to face threats from the Trump administration” like “reproductive rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights, and our environmental justice.”
Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey, who, as state attorney general, filed numerous lawsuits against President Trump during his first term. He said they will “have to see if he makes good on what he promised and ran on terms of Project 2025 or other things.”
Bob Ferguson, Democratic Washington Attorney General, who has just been elected governor, said he was apprehensive about Donald Trump’s recent comments suggesting the military should be used domestically against “the enemy within.”
“It is deeply un-American,” said Ferguson.
In some states, including Connecticut, officials are hoping to codify far-left, progressive policies into law, “but there are limits to what our ability is to do that,” said Sean Scanlon, Connecticut Comptroller.
Even though he lost California, Trump appeared on track to surpass his 2020 record of over six million votes in the state, at the time more than any Republican candidate who came before him. Jessica Millan Patterson, head of the California Republican Party, said in a statement, “Out-of-touch California Democrats continue to prove their commitment to moving California away from the mainstream and down a destructive path.”
Newsom vows to work with Trump but stand with other states against policies
Following Trump’s win, Newsom vowed to work with the president-elect but added, “Let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.”
President-elect Trump often paints California as representing all he sees wrong in the United States. In the state, Democrats have commanding margins in every statewide office and the Legislature and congressional delegation and outnumber registered GOP voters almost 2-1 statewide.
During a campaign stop in Southern California last month, Trump called the Democratic governor “New-scum” and has relentlessly blasted the Dem stronghold and most populous state in the nation over its significant number of illegal immigrants, its plethora of regulations, and its homeless population.
President-elect Trump also ventured into a water rights battle over the endangered delta smelt that has pitted environmentalists against farmers — threatening to withhold federal aid to a state increasingly threatened by wildfires.
In a Wednesday morning speech, Trump vowed to follow through with his campaign promise of mass deporting illegal immigrants without legal status and prosecuting his political enemies.
The following day, California’s attorney general vowed to protect them.
“I can promise to the undocumented immigrant community in California that I and my team have been thinking about you for months and the harm that might come from the Trump administration 2.0. We’ll do everything in our power and use the full authority of our office to defend you,” said Bonta.
Over the past two decades, state attorneys general have embraced the role of challenging federal executive policy increasingly — most frequently when it originates with a president of the opposing party.
During Donald Trump’s first presidency, the Democratic attorneys general worked together to file lawsuits over immigration, the environment, internet regulation, Trump’s travel ban for residents from Muslim countries, and other topics.
The legal challenges typically have had mixed results. However, Trump has one possible advantage this time. He aggressively nominated conservative jurists to all levels of federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
“We learned a lot about former President Trump in his first term — he’s petty, vindictive, and will do what it takes to get his way no matter how dangerous the policy may be,” said Mike McGuire, Senate President Pro Tempore, in a statement. “California has come too far and accomplished too much to simply surrender and accept his dystopian vision for America.”
Gov. Newsom has called California — which has passed numerous laws to protect access to abortion — a sanctuary for individuals in other states seeking abortions. The state was additionally the first to mandate that all new cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks sold in California be plug-in hybrids, electric, or hydrogen-powered by 2035. California also extends health care funded by the state to allow all low-income residents regardless of immigration status.
