The election victory of newly elected President Donald Trump has led to the creation of a group of governors to protect democracy. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In the wake of Republican Donald Trump’s re-election as president, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is helping lead a new initiative that aims to protect state-level democratic institutions from federal overreach.
Polis, a Democrat with two years left in his term, is co-chair of the Governors Protecting Democracy, alongside Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, also a Democrat.
“We founded GSD because we know that simple hope alone will not save our democracy. We must work together, especially at the state level, to protect and strengthen it,” Polis said on a call with reporters on Tuesday.
[Oregon’s Gov. Tina Kotek is aware of the group but his not joined, a spokeswoman told the Capital Chronicle.]
The two governors did not provide details on who else is part of the initiative, although they emphasized that it is nonpartisan and said they have reached out to Republican governors across the country.
The action items are vague. Pritzker described the goal as “leveraging our collective strength, experience and institutional knowledge to advance policies that protect the rule of law” among the states.
“We will design and implement positive strategies to protect the rule of law and deliver results for the people of the states. We will work to strengthen key state institutions to protect executive agencies, elections, state courts and other democratic bodies. We will then develop playbooks that will help governors and their teams anticipate and quickly respond to emerging threats,” he said.
When fully implemented, the initiative will be a “peer opportunity for governors to learn from each other about best practices and policies,” Polis said.
GSD was born out of fear that a second Trump term will erode democratic institutions and roll back federal protections in areas such as the environment, health care and civil rights. Some observers are concerned about possible threats to the integrity of the national electoral system, the independent judiciary and civil society in general. Trump himself promised to be a “dictator” on the first day of his term to fulfill campaign promises, and former top officials from the first Trump administration, such as John Kelly, have done so. said it fits in the definition of fascist.
The new Trump administration does planning an unprecedented mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, an effort that would involve the deployment of the National Guard. Pritzker said the challenge this poses for states is “exactly the kind of question this group would consider.”
Polis agreed that such a policy would likely not be allowed under the federal code governing the National Guard, and that as governors they would not cooperate.
“In terms of protecting democracy, it is very consistent with our Constitution and the law to ensure that the U.S. military is not used for police actions at home and to defend our freedoms abroad,” he said. Policy.
GSD will be supported by Governors Action Alliance, a new nonpartisan organization, and funded by philanthropic donations. Neither Pritzker nor Polis have disclosed donors.
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