Gavin Newsom: This is how California’s left-wing governor plans to resist Trump

The Democratically dominated US state of California is preparing to face the coming Trump administration. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have been in a special session since Monday to protect the state’s progressive politics from another Trump presidency.

The Democratic governor, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, wants to make California once again the center of resistance to the conservative agenda. He is asking his fellow Democrats, who have a clear majority in both chambers, to approve additional funding for the Attorney General’s office. This should give him ammunition for legal battles against Washington.

“We will work with the new administration, and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom said in a statement. “But when things go too far, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will act.”

One bill would allocate $25 million for legal spending to respond to possible attacks by the Trump administration on state policies on civil rights, climate change, immigration and abortion access. Another ten million dollars should be made available for the district and city lawyers.

California had already sued the first Trump administration more than 120 times – with varying degrees of success. Trump often portrays California as a symbol of everything he believes is wrong with America. Democrats hold all statewide offices in California.

Trump called the Democratic governor “newscum” (a play on words, roughly “new scum”) at a campaign stop in Southern California and has harshly criticized the Democratic stronghold for its large number of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, its homeless population and its thicket of regulations .

Trump also waded into a dispute over water rights for the endangered Delta smelt, an endangered tiny fish that has pitted environmentalists and farmers at odds. Trump threatened to withhold federal aid to the state, which is increasingly at risk of wildfires. It also announced the mass deportation of immigrants without legal residency status – in contradiction to California policy.

Before the special session began, state lawmakers swore in more than two dozen new members and elected leaders for the 2025 legislative session. Lawmakers voted largely along party lines to call the special session.

“This special session is about standing up for Californians and California values,” Wiener said. “It’s about making sure that the president of the United States and his administration are actually following the law.”

Hundreds of people demonstrated around the Capitol on Monday to call on the legislature to stop Trump’s mass deportation plans. They carried banners that read “Not a single cent for mass deportations” and “MAGA out of California.”

Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office will protect the state’s immigrant population. Newsom last week unveiled a proposal to rescue a rebate program for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates a federal tax credit for electric vehicle purchases. Newsom is also considering creating a wildfire disaster relief reserve fund following Trump’s threats.

The lawyer Bonta also announced on Monday legislation to strengthen abortion rights in the state. It should provide for fines against municipalities that violate these rights. This is part of the state’s efforts to ensure access to abortion.

Republican lawmakers criticized Newsom and his Democratic allies over the special session. Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Republican from Southern California, said the special session would lead to an even more adversarial relationship with the federal government.

“What we are doing today sends exactly this message: We will fight tooth and nail for everything. And guess what? This means they will fight us tooth and nail,” Seyarto said of the proposed legislation.

Lawmakers are expected to spend the year discussing ways to protect dozens of laws expected to be targeted by the Trump administration. That includes a law that made California a haven for people living in states that have severely restricted access to abortion.

California, the most populous state in the U.S., was the first to require that all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in the state be electric, hydrogen-powered or plug-in hybrids by 2035. The state also offers federally funded health care to all low-income residents, regardless of their immigration status.

Newsom hasn’t provided details about what lawmakers will consider, but said he wants to secure funding before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. During Trump’s first term, the state of California spent about $42 million on litigation with the federal government.

California is projected to have a $2 billion budget deficit next year, and even larger deficits are expected. Gabriel, who sued the first Trump administration in 2017 when it tried to end a program designed to protect young immigrants from deportation, said securing funding now would be “a smart investment.”

California successfully recovered $57 million between 2017 and 2018 after a legal battle to block the Trump administration from attaching conditions to immigration enforcement on certain federal law enforcement grants. Another legal victory over the citizenship question in the 2020 census forced the federal government to return $850,000 to the state.

During Trump’s first presidency, Democratic attorneys general joined forces to file lawsuits over immigration, Trump’s travel ban on residents of Muslim countries, the environment, immigration and other issues. But Trump has a potential advantage this time: He has been aggressive in appointing conservative jurists to federal courts at all levels, including the Supreme Court.