Democrats are deeply divided over how aggressively to oppose newly elected President Donald Trump and his allies. While some are taking a conciliatory approach to the coming Republican trifecta, others are vowing to thwart their policies with all available legal and legislative tools.
It is a moment that those in the resistance camp – many with greater political ambitions – have been preparing for behind the scenes for months.
Those preparations were aided by Project 2025, the conservative blueprint that outlined a policy wish list for the next Republican administration, from rolling back environmental regulations to enacting a national abortion ban.
The Blue States have begun “Trump-proofing” programs that are expected to be attacked by the federal government, and are strengthening teams of lawyers who will fight the new administration in court.
Now those resistant Democrats — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison — have a message for the latest episode of the Trump era: Bring it on.
“Breaking the law, that’s what [Trump] can’t find the way to stop doing it — it’s part of his brand, it’s part of what he does,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is expected to run for office in 2026 governor. “If he doesn’t break the law, we can’t do anything and he will be a law-abiding president. But we don’t expect that.”
These hostile opposing forces represent just one segment of the Democratic Party, as its leaders strategize how to confront Trump when he reenters the White House, backed by full Republican Party control of Congress. Some governors are taking a less combative approach, expressing their willingness to work with the newly elected president on certain fronts — at least for now.
Here’s a look at the pillars of the movement coming together to undermine Trump and his allies, a collection of Democratic governors, attorneys general and like-minded interest groups.
Governors
Expect Newsom to strengthen his position as the leading Democrat in the fight against the FBI. Newsom and Trump are old enemies — and that rivalry is guaranteed to reignite as Trump reenters the White House and Newsom lays the groundwork for a possible 2028 presidential election.
Newsom has already begun positioning California as a bulwark against the coming Republican trifecta. Two days after the election, he called a special session of the state Legislature to protect California initiatives likely to be targeted by Trump, such as civil rights protections and climate policy.
In addition to Newsom, keep an eye on the newly formed nonpartisan group focused on countering the “threats of autocracy,” which was launched by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Colorado Governor Jared Polis. The pair of governors say they are talking to other Democrats and Republicans about joining the effort, which will have its own staff and researchers.
“You’re coming for my people, you’re coming through me,” Pritzker warned Trump at a post-election press conference.
Polis created that group even as he praised Trump’s provocative choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as he spoke about the complex balancing act governors will face in the coming years as Trump takes office. is power.
Don’t discount the newcomers either. Governors who took office after Trump’s first term are joining the resistance — though less openly than some of their longer-serving colleagues.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul launched a program aimed at addressing “policy and regulatory threats” from the Republican administration and pledged to strengthen coordination with her state’s attorney general to “ensure fundamental freedoms of New Yorkers.” But she also called Trump to make her case for federal funding for important projects across the state.
Then there’s Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts, who burnished her profile by repeatedly suing the Trump administration in her previous role as the state’s attorney general but largely retreated from the national spotlight after leaving office. After Trump’s election, she roared back to MSNBC with calls to “hold the rule of law line again” and promised that state police would not comply with Trump’s mass deportation plans.
Attorneys General
When Trump issued the ban on Muslim travelers to the US in the early days of his first presidency, the offices of Democratic attorneys general were overwhelmed. They rushed to file a lawsuit against multiple states together—beginning an era of intense litigation between the states and the federal government.
These same offices do not intend to be surprised again.
“We’ve had a little more time to think about this now, and it’s not as new as it used to be,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who successfully attacked the first Trump administration for withholding law enforcement funding after the state objected. immigration-related provisions attached to it.
“We will be better prepared for this work,” Weiser said in an interview. “We know a little more about the nature of what is to come.”
Look to California’s Bonta, Minnesota’s Ellison, New Jersey’s Matthew Platkin, and New York’s Letitia James as likely leaders of the litigation movement. “I didn’t run for attorney general twice so I could indict Trump. That’s not what I’m here for,” Ellison said at a recent press conference. “But if he violates people’s rights, we’re going to press charges, it’s as simple as that.”
Also keep an eye on the new crop of attorneys general from states that played a major role in previous lawsuits against Trump, such as Dan Rayfield in Oregon and Nick Brown in Washington.
These offices will deploy their large staffs of lawyers to likely challenge virtually every move the Trump administration makes. In the days following the election, some firms issued an open casting call to expand the ranks of their trial attorneys, posting on Linkedin that “the need for the best and brightest attorneys to join us has never been greater has been great.”
But while these attorneys general may have more experience prosecuting Trump this time around, they face more institutional and political challenges that could make it difficult to prevail in court, namely a more conservative Supreme Court in which Trump has a major role. has played. The president-elect also has the support of more Republicans in Congress, who will likely try to use their majorities in both chambers to pass legislation that would replace state laws.
Interest groups
While Democratic governors concerned about their own political future may not want to be the face of the fight against Trump on all fronts, interest groups with that as their sole mission will be eager to employ scorched-earth tactics to undermine the government. thwart.
Democracy Forward, a liberal legal organization founded during the first Trump administration, plans to continue its work challenging federal rules — and this time it’s armed with a much larger staff and a multi-million war chest dollars. Board members include Democratic legal chief Marc Elias and Ron Klain, former chief of staff to President Joe Biden.
There will be many conflicts in the area of abortion. Trump promised to veto a national abortion ban if someone ended up on his desk. But Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the vice president-elect, suggested during the campaign that the Republican administration would defund Planned Parenthood, telling reporters that “we don’t think taxpayers should fund late-term abortions.”
A series of political groups that support abortion rights — EMILYs List, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Reproductive Freedom for All — released a memo after the election pledging to hold Trump and “all anti-abortion politicians accountable.” for what they have already done and what they plan to do to destroy reproductive freedom.”
On immigration, the American Civil Liberties Union fired the first warning shot at the Trump administration by filing a lawsuit Monday seeking more information on how authorities can quickly deport people from the US.
Trump officials are considering how to craft executive actions aimed at meeting legal challenges from immigrant rights groups — a strategy intended to avoid the pitfalls of the first Trump term, such as when civil rights groups and attorneys- general successfully postponed the implementation of various versions of the Islamic travel ban.
Consider the activities of climate organizations like EarthJustice and the Sierra Club, which are bracing for the continued reversal of dozens of environmental regulations governing everything from air pollution restrictions to drilling in protected areas.
“We are even stronger now and we are ready,” EarthJustice, which has taken the Trump administration to court more than 130 times and won the vast majority of court decisions, said in a statement after Trump’s election were written out. “We will see Donald Trump in court.”
