California’s Newsom Moves to Boost Potential Roadblocks to Trump
(Bloomberg) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom called a special legislative session aimed at shielding the state’s policies on issues including reproductive rights, climate and immigration from potential threats under a Trump administration.
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The session will begin Dec. 2, seven weeks before President-Elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in.
Newsom, a prominent Democrat and frequent critic of Republican politics, has clashed with GOP figures like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and positioned himself as a national voice on issues from climate change to abortion rights. With his second term ending in 2026, it’s widely speculated that he has presidential ambitions.
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “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.”
Among his priorities is legislation to provide additional resources to the California Department of Justice to potentially sue the Trump administration or defend against federal lawsuits.
Trump has increasingly taken aim at the California governor, dubbing him “Newscum” and blasting the state’s sanctuary policies protecting undocumented immigrants. The president-elect has also threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid money from the most-populous US state.
During Trump’s first term, the state filed more than 100 lawsuits against his administration’s regulatory rollback and other rules, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a press conference on Thursday. “We pushed him back into his box when he tried to step out,” said Bonta. “In the days and months and years to come, all eyes will look west to us.”
Bonta addressed Trump’s threat to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, saying it’s a key issue of his office’s focus. “I’m not going to promise the Trump administration won’t go after them, but I promise to fight for them,” Bonta said.
California is a Democratic stronghold, with registered voters in the party outnumbering Republicans by about two to one. Vice President Kamala Harris, who hails from the state, won about 57% of the presidential vote there, according to preliminary results.
However, the 2024 election saw a rightward shift, with voters overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure to crack down on drug and retail crime and Republican candidates leading in a handful of close congressional races that could decide control of Congress.
(Updates with comment from Bonta from seventh paragraph.)
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