Democratic governors create group to resist Trump policies

By Stephanie Kelly and Brad Brooks

(Reuters) – The governors of Illinois and Colorado on Wednesday said they will co-chair a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states to fight back against polices incoming Republican President Donald Trump has vowed to push through. 

With their Governors Safeguarding Democracy group, Democrats J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Jared Polis of Colorado join attorneys general and other Democratic governors who have pledged to resist conservative Trump policies on everything from immigration to rollbacks on environmental protections.

Among other things, Trump – who won a decisive victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in last week’s election – has pledged to use federal law enforcement to investigate his political foes, launch the largest deportation effort in American history and purge colleges and universities of diversity programs.

In previous years, conservative states – most notably Texas – have filed lawsuits and taken other steps to try to rein in Democratic Party presidents. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week sent out an email highlighting his 100th lawsuit against the administration of President Joe Biden.

“We founded (the group) because we know that simple hope alone won’t save our democracy,” Polis said on a conference call announcing the group. “We need to work together, especially at the state level, to protect and strengthen it.”

He and Pritzker did not detail the actions they are contemplating. 

Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. 

Whether the new Democrat-led group will have much success is unclear. Democratic-led states repeatedly fought against Trump policies in his first administration, but he still managed to push through a strongly conservative agenda on everything from energy policy to immigration restrictions. 

Governors Safeguarding Democracy says it is a non-partisan group. When pressed by reporters on Wednesday’s call about Republican governors’ involvement, Pritzker said the group had been having “good conversations” with Republican officials but declined to say with whom. 

Earlier, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, called a special legislative session to address Trump policies he said threaten the state’s values in areas such as civil rights, immigration and climate. Trump responded to Newsom’s announcement by saying on social media that the governor “is trying to kill our nation’s beautiful California.” 

Washington state’s Governor-elect Bob Ferguson, another Democrat who is the state’s current attorney general, said last week that his legal team has been preparing for months on how to respond to future Trump policies.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has said she is working with her attorney general on how to “protect New Yorkers’ fundamental freedoms” and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, another Democrat, has said that she and other attorneys general are “on the front lines to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms” against Trump policies.      

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York and Brad Brooks in Colorado; editing by Donna Bryson and Deepa Babington)