The governor of California calls a special session to protect liberal politics from Trump's presidency

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) — California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump, on Thursday called on lawmakers to call a special session later this year to protect the state's progressive policies on climate change, reproductive rights and immigration before another Protect Trump presidency.

The move – a day after the former president soundly defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race – effectively reignited California's resistance campaign against the conservative policies that Democratic leaders began during the first Trump administration.

“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we will not stand idle,” Newsom, who is said to have ambitions on the national stage, said in a statement. “California has faced this challenge before and we know how to respond. We are ready to fight in court, and we will do whatever it takes to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to succeed.”

Newsom's office told The Associated Press that the governor and lawmakers are ready to make California's state laws “Trump-proof.” In his announcement Thursday, he called on the Legislature to provide the attorney general's office with more resources to combat federal challenges when it meets in December.

California's move is part of a growing discussion among Democratic state officials across the country as they seek to protect policies that face threats under Trump's leadership. Other blue states are also quickly preparing game plans, anticipating a tougher battle this time with a Republican-dominated Senate and possibly a House of Representatives.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James said senior aides plan to meet regularly to coordinate legal strategies.

“Our team will do everything we can to identify potential threats to these rights we hold dear in New York state and to protect New Yorkers,” Hochul said at a news conference Wednesday.

Hochul said she has created a task force focused on developing policy responses to “key areas most likely to face a threat from the Trump administration,” such as “reproductive rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ -Rights and ours.” Environmental justice.”

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who filed dozens of lawsuits against Trump during his first term as attorney general, said it will “have to be seen whether he delivers on what he promised and delivered on Project 2025 or other things.” .

Attorney General Andrea Campbell said she and other attorneys general are “absolutely clear that President-elect Trump has told us exactly what he plans to do as president.”

In Chicago, Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said he was working with other governors to find ways to strengthen reproductive rights, among other things.

“Chaos, retaliation and disorder emanated from the White House the last time Donald Trump occupied it,” Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday. “Maybe this time it will be different. But if not, Illinois will remain a place of stability and competent governance.”

After Trump's victory, Newsom vowed to work with the president-elect, but added: “Make no mistake, we intend to work with states across our country to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.”

California has been home to the so-called Trump resistance during his time in office, and Trump often portrays California as a representative of everything he believes is wrong with America.

Trump called the Democratic governor a “new scum” during a campaign stop in Southern California last month and has relentlessly criticized the Democratic stronghold and the country's most populous state for its large number of illegal immigrants, its homeless population and its thicket of regulations.

Trump also became embroiled in a water rights battle over the endangered Delta smelt that pitted environmentalists against farmers and threatened to withhold federal aid to a state increasingly at risk of wildfires.

In a speech Wednesday morning, Trump vowed to keep his campaign promise to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and prosecute his political enemies.

Democrats, who hold all of California's statewide offices and command a dominant margin in the Legislature and congressional delegation, outnumber registered Republicans statewide by nearly two to one, and Harris handily won the state in her losing presidential bid.

Newsom and Democratic lawmakers said they were acting now to shield the state's policies that made him a leader in the country.

“We learned a lot about former President Trump in his first term – he is petty, vindictive and will do anything to get his way, no matter how dangerous the politics,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire state, in a statement. “California has come too far and accomplished too much to simply give up and accept its dystopian vision for America.”

Newsom has described California as a haven for people in other states seeking abortions. The state has passed dozens of laws to protect abortion access, including allocating $20 million in taxpayer money to pay for patients in other states to travel to California for an abortion. Newsom also leads a coalition of 20 Democratic governors launched in 2023 to strengthen abortion access.

The state was also the first to require that all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in California be electric, hydrogen-powered or plug-in hybrids by 2035, giving state regulators the power to punish oil companies if they do they make too much money. California is also expanding federally funded health care to all low-income residents, regardless of immigration status.

Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office last year reviewed more than 120 lawsuits filed by the state during Trump's first term in preparation for new federal actions.

With Trump's victory in the White House and California assuming a role as the leader of the renewed resistance movement, Newsom is also certain to be on the short list of all 2028 presidential candidates, said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.

The governor, who will be unable to run for governor once his term expires in January 2027, will have the next two years to prove himself as an effective antidote to the Republican Party while maintaining a working relationship with the president-elect.

“He wants to be seen as a political innovator, and that puts him in the spotlight,” McCuan said.