Gavin Newsom sends Donald Trump a message

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a thinly veiled warning to President-elect Donald Trump after the Republican's dramatic election victory, promising to “defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

On Tuesday, Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris to win the 2024 presidential election with at least 295 Electoral College votes, The Associated Press (AP) reported Thursday morning, 25 more than needed for victory. AP also has Trump ahead in Arizona and Nevada, two swing states that are still counting their ballots and are on track to win the popular vote.

During the campaign, Democrats focused heavily on the damage they said a second Trump term would do to American democracy and the rule of law. Harris branded the Republican nominee “clumsy and unstable” and said he sought “unchecked power.” Newsom, who did not run against Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary, is widely viewed as his party's potential future candidate for the White House.

In an X post on Wednesday, Newsom first praised Harris, saying she was “committed to fighting to defend our fundamental freedoms and building a country that works for everyone.”

He added: “While this is not the outcome we wanted, our fight for freedom and opportunity remains.”

Newsom then turned to Trump, commenting: “California will seek to work with the new president – but make no mistake, we want to stand with states across the country to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.”

“Federalism is the cornerstone of our democracy. It is the UNITED STATES of America.”

Newsweek contacted Donald Trump and Gov. Newsom's presidential campaign team on Thursday for comment via email and online request form, respectively, outside of regular office hours.

The California governor's warning follows four years in which Republican governors have often been a thorn in President Biden's side.

In particular, the Biden administration repeatedly clashed with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over migration and transgender rights in education.

In January 2024, Abbott vowed to install more razor wire along the Texas-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigration, defying a Supreme Court ruling that allowed Border Patrol agents to remove it. To justify this, the governor of Texas invoked Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution, “reserving to this State the right of self-defense.”

Abbott added: “This authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes all federal laws to the contrary.” A group of 25 Republican governors from across the country released a joint statement in support of this position.

Trump is facing criminal charges at the federal level and in the state of Georgia, particularly related to allegations that he broke the law while trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The now president-elect has strongly denied any wrongdoing and any conversations with the president Newsweek Constitutional law professor David Driesen said the cases would likely be dropped or dismissed following his victory.