Blue state govs gear up to protect their people
“You come for my people, you come through me.”
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Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election last week has led, inevitably, to a miserable round of Democratic blaming, shaming, bitterness, and general panic.
Bernie Sanders (as he tends to do) claimed the loss was the fault of the Democrats having “abandoned working class people.” Nancy Pelosi blamed Joe Biden for not exiting the race early enough, and the lack of an open primary. New York Rep. Tom Suozzi and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton gracelessly embraced the bigoted talking point that the Democrats lost because of their (albeit limited) support for trans rights.
None of these analyses are very convincing. Nor are they especially helpful to vulnerable constituents who are terrified of what a Trump term means for them. A Democratic Party focused on bickering and blame — or worse looking for ways to throw various constituencies to the MAGA wolves — is not the Democratic Party we need right now.
The need for Democrats to prepare for January is urgent. Just yesterday, Trump’s incoming “border czar,” Project 2025 co-author Tom Homan, went on Fox & Friends and made clear that the administration plans to weaponize the federal government against blue states.
"If you're not gonna help us, get the hell out of the way,” Homan said, alluding to deportation raids. “Because we're going to do it ... we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City." (Watch below.)
In the face of threats of this sort, some Democrats thankfully have pivoted away from recriminations and towards offering a practical program for resistance (and therefore hope). A number of blue state governors have stated clearly their intention to protect their residents from Trump depredations.
In doing so, they’ve also underlined that state Democratic strength has grown since 2016 — which is one of the few concrete ways we are better prepared for Trump now than then.
Blue state governors won’t save us, but they can help
One of the most vocal blue state governors to promise anti-MAGA measures has been JB Pritzker of Illinois. In a combative news conference last Thursday, Pritzker warned Trump and MAGA, “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior.”
“You come for my people, you come through me,” he concluded. (Watch below — video via Heartland Signal.)
Pritzker’s statement wasn’t just bluster. Illinois has taken a range of measures to shore up protections for vulnerable groups since Pritzker won the governor’s race in 2018. The state passed a law in 2023 shielding abortion recipients from civil or criminal discovery and from extradition to other states. The same law ensured that insurance in Illinois would cover abortion medication and gender-affirming care, and also strengthened protections for IVF.
Pritzker also signed legislation making it easier for trans people to change the gender on their birth certificates without medical certification. And the state passed laws to provide for foster provisions and guardianship for children of immigrants arrested or deported by ICE.
Now the Illinois governor is working on plans to try to limit the damage from Trump going forward. He and staffers have been studying Trump’s Project 2025 plan for the next four years. In the 2025 legislative session, Pritzker plans to pass additional legislation to protect the identity of abortion refugees and to try to safeguard access to the abortion pill mifepristone. He’s also looking into ways to shore up environmental regulations.
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Perhaps most pressingly, Pritzker says he has been in touch with other Democratic governors to discuss Project 2025 plans to withhold police grants from blue states that refuse to participate in mass deportation. Prizker said that such actions would be “illegal” and promised to oppose them in court.
Pritzker’s actions are being mirrored in other blue states. Gavin Newsom in California has called a special legislative session to provide more funds for the state attorney general’s office to challenge Trump measures on abortion, the environment, gun control, union dues, and more. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York AG Letitia James said they would increase coordination between their offices to “protect New Yorkers’ fundamental freedoms from any potential threats.” Washington state AG Bob Ferguson tweeted that the state had been “working for months to prepare for another Trump term,” going through Project 2025 “line by line” to address “unconstitutional assaults on your reproductive rights, access to health care, and civil rights.”
We are in some ways better prepared than in 2016
Most discussion of the next Trump term has focused on ways in which it is likely to be even worse than 2016. And there are many reasons to be very frightened.
Just for starters, Trump now has a compliant Supreme Court which has already declared him above the law. He’s also planned an all-out assault on the professional civil service, which was a brake on some of his uglier schemes. He’s promised an unprecedented and brutal mass deportation plan. And, given his Big Lie and refusal to leave office peacefully in 2020, there’s good reason to believe that he will attempt to corrupt elections and enshrine rightwing power.
That’s all quite bad. There are at least a couple of reasons for hope, though. First, in 2016, Trump’s victory was a surprise to most Democrats, who were convinced that such a flawed candidate couldn’t win. People, including elected officials, were traumatized and slow to mobilize.
The quick response from blue state governors this time around shows that Democratic officials are more prepared. Rather than scrambling for months, blue states have begun immediately, before Trump is even in office, to work on ways to protect their people.
Just as important as the immediate reaction is the long-term success Democrats have had in building downballot power in the Trump era.
In 2016, following eight years of Obama and brutal red wave off-year elections, Democratic state parties were in disarray; 23 states had unified Republican rule, while only seven had unified control by Democrats. Today, following the 2024 results, Republicans still have 23 state trifectas — but even after losing unified control in Michigan and Minnesota, Democrats have 15. Despite Harris’s loss, downballot damage in state legislatures was relatively restrained. For instance, Democrats retained control of the state House in Pennsylvania and didn’t lose ground in the Senate.
Pritzker himself, and the people of Illinois, are beneficiaries of the anti-Trump blue wave of the last decade; Illinois had a Republican governor the last time Trump won. Democrats have also slowly gained ground in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The 2024 election broke the legislative supermajorities in both states, meaning the Democratic governors there can block rabid MAGA legislation.
Much despair, but some hope
Obviously, this does not mean all is well. Trump is set to do enormous damage to our democracy in general and to marginalized people in particular. We are headed for a bleak four years and there’s no guarantee we’ll have free and fair elections in 2026, much less 2028.
But it’s important to realize that there is capacity for resistance. Supporting, working with, and lobbying state governments is going to be key in the brutal months and years ahead. If you’re in a blue state, let your representatives know you appreciate their efforts to fight Trump. Look into donating to state-level orgs — like abortion funds or immigrant rights orgs — that are going to be vital for people across the country. Consider donating or volunteering in elections at the state level too.
Local races in off years often get less attention. But under Trump, winning them is going to be more crucial than ever as we try to establish bulwarks against MAGA authoritarianism wherever we can.
That’s it for today
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Virginia elects a new governor in 2025, ridding ourselves of the awful MAGA Red Vest Youngkin, who can't run again. The fantastic Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) did not run for re-election as she prepares for the Governor's race in 2025, and her House seat was won by Democrat Eugene Vindman, a first-time candidate. Virginia voted for Kamala Harris, the only southern state to do so. You can help us strengthen the Blue Wall with a 2025 trifecta in Richmond. https://abigailspanberger.com/
Since many blue states subsidize many red states via Federal income tax, could blue state residents refuse en mass to pay their taxes, and instead, send what they owe to their states to offset the planned reduction from Trump's administration? We know there aren't already enough IRS agents to handle tax evaders.