California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls special session to fortify progressive state policies against new Trump term
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday that they were readying to "protect California values" against the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, whose first term in office presented an onslaught of challenges to the policy agenda of Democratic leaders in the state.
Newsom, a fierce critic of Trump, called for lawmakers to convene a special session later this year to safeguard the state's progressive policies on climate change, reproductive rights and immigration ahead of another Trump presidency.
The move — a day after the former president resoundingly defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race — effectively reignited California's resistance campaign against conservative policies that state Democratic leaders started during the first Trump administration.
"The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won't sit idle," Newsom, who reportedly has ambitions on the national stage, said in a statement. "California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond. We are prepared to fight in the courts, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive."
Execution of a plan to fortify the state's priorities, Newsom said, would begin Dec. 2 with the launch of a special legislative session to address the issue, the second special session the governor announced this year after an earlier move to bring lawmakers back to discuss the high cost of gas.
Newsom's office told The Associated Press that the governor and lawmakers are ready to "Trump-proof" California's state laws. His announcement Thursday called on the Legislature to give the attorney general's office more funding to fight federal challenges when they meet in December.
"No matter what the incoming Administration has in store, California will keep moving forward," said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "We've been through this before, and we stand ready to defend your rights and protect California values.
Bonta laid out additional details at a news conference in San Francisco on Thursday. With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background and next to a sign that read "Progress will Prevail," the attorney general tried to reassure Californians.
"As the reality of a second Trump administration takes hold, I know there is a lot of fear and anxiety, frustration, and sadness," Bonta declared. "I understand. No matter who is in the White House, no matter who controls Congress, in California we will keep moving forward," he said.
Bonta said his office has spent the previous weeks and months preparing for the event of a second Trump administration.
"We're prepared, in detail, with a litigation strategy," he said. "We have a legislative strategy. We have thought in detail about where and when we sue and on what grounds. And we're working with our partners across the state."
Bonta said he would use the full authority of his office to address injustice.
"To safeguard reproductive rights, to advocate for more housing, especially more affordable housing for lower and middle-income families just trying to get by. I will continue to take on greedy corporate giants and fight for more affordable gas and groceries, and everything in between," he said.
UC Law San Francisco Professor Dorit Reiss says from immigration to environmental laws, California won a number of cases the first time around, because the administration's work was frequently sloppy.
"So the first big question, the million dollar question, what exactly will the Trump administration do? In the first Trump administration, they lost a lot of cases for actions that the court found arbitrary and capricious that were not thoughtful or not explained," Reiss said. "I think we'll see more of that again."
But the second time could be different for a number of reasons, and part if that is because it is the second time.
"The first Trump administration appointed quite a few judges," Reiss added. "And I expect they will appoint more. So one question is where will the courts go on this?"
"We don't mind who appointed a judge," Bonta said to that point.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed some 122 lawsuits against the Trump administration. including the successful defense of DACA, a program that was ultimately saved in the Supreme Court. Bonta says he will be requesting more resources, and joining forces with like-minded attorneys general around the country.
"We expect to be able to do that again," Bonta said. "We want to do that again and we expect pushback from the Trump administration so we'll see what he does and how he does it and we will push back legally."
California's move is part of a growing discussion among Democratic state officials across the country seeking to protect policies that face threats under Trump's leadership. Other blue states are also moving quickly to prepare game plans and expect a fiercer battle this time around with a Republican-dominated Senate and possibly House.
How Other Blue States Are Responding
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James said senior staffers plan to meet regularly to coordinate legal strategies.
"Our team will do whatever we have to do to identify any possible threats to these rights that we hold dear in the State of New York and 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 that are most likely to face threats from the Trump administration" such as "reproductive rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights and our environmental justice."
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who as state attorney general filed dozens of lawsuits against Trump during his first term, said they will "have to see if he makes good on what he promised and ran on in terms of Project 2025 or other things."
Attorney General Andrea Campbell said she and other attorneys general are "absolutely cleareyed that president-elect Trump has told us exactly what he intends to do as president."
After 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."
Trump's Past Battles With California
California was home to the so-called Trump resistance during his time in office, and Trump often depicts California as representing all he sees wrong in America.
Trump called the Democratic governor "New-scum" during a campaign stop in Southern California last month and has relentlessly lambasted the Democratic stronghold and nation's most populous state over its large number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, its homeless population and its thicket of regulations.
Trump also waded into a water rights battle over the endangered delta smelt that has pitted environmentalists against farmers and threatened to withhold federal aid to a state increasingly under threat from wildfires.
In a speech Wednesday morning, Trump vowed to follow through with his campaign promise of carrying out the mass deportation of immigrants without legal status and prosecuting his political enemies.
Newsom and Democratic lawmakers said they are acting now to shield the state's policies that have made it a leader in the nation.
"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," state Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire said in a statement. "California has come too far and accomplished too much to simply surrender and accept his dystopian vision for America."
Newsom has called California a sanctuary for people in other states seeking abortions. The state has passed dozens of laws to protect abortion access, including setting aside $20 million in taxpayer money to help pay for patients in other states to travel to California to get 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 mandate that all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in California be electric, hydrogen-powered or plug-in hybrids by 2035 and give state regulators the power to penalize oil companies for making too much money. California also extends state-funded health care to all low-income residents regardless of their immigration status.
Bonta said his office spent the past year reviewing more than 120 lawsuits the state filed during Trump's first term in preparation of new federal actions.
Possible 2028 Election Implications
With Trump's White House win and California's assumed role in leading the renewed resistance movement, Newsom also is bound to be elevated onto the short list of any presidential consideration for 2028, Sonoma State University political science professor David McCuan said.
The governor, who won't be eligible to run for governor again when his term ends in 2027, will have the next two years to prove himself as an effective GOP antidote while maintaining a working relationship with the president-elect.
"He wants to be seen as a political revivalist, and so that puts him front and center," McCuan said.
Wilson Walker contributed to this story.