Update Feb. 7, 5:05 p.m.: Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills today to put $50 million towards legal resources for California to sue the Trump Administration.
The bills were part of a special session Newsom called days after President Trump was reelected.
Shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election in November, California Governor Gavin Newsom wasted no time renewing his resistance. He quickly called a special legislative session to secure funds to sue the president’s new administration.
But then in January, Los Angeles experienced the two most devastating and costly fires in state history.
It left the Democratic governor having to strike a delicate political balance: Socking away funds for future lawsuits against Trump while at the same time asking him for federal disaster aid.
Newsom met with Trump and members of Congress in Washington, D.C., this week with the goal of securing federal funds for recovery efforts in Los Angeles.
According to Newsom’s administration, he had a “very productive” meeting with Trump. When asked on Thursday if specific commitments had been reached in an interview with CNN, Newsom answered “not specific commitments, but broad strokes and I have just all the confidence in the world that it’s going to be a strong partnership moving forward.”
“He has to work his way through some political landmines in order to help wildfire victims,” said Democratic strategist Robin Swanson. “At the end of the day, he has to put the people of California first and that’s what he’s doing.”
According to Republican consultant Mike Madrid, California is seeing a new approach from Newsom when it comes to working with the federal government. His rhetoric is less strident and more collaborative. He said this new dynamic may be here to stay.
“As strong as we are economically and as much of a force as we are politically, we are very much reliant on the federal government,” Madrid said. “So there's only so far that your antagonism will get you, certainly this time around.”
While the recent fires may have a lot to do with the shift in Newsom’s tone, Madrid also attributed it to Democrats’ resounding loss at the ballot box in November.
“The Democrats are not standing on strong ground right now in determining who they are, what their message is, and how they're going to proceed going forward,” Madrid said. “As the governor of the largest, bluest state, a lot of this I think falls on Gavin Newsom's shoulders.”
While Newsom focuses on federal disaster aid, Swanson said California has plenty of other Democrats who are eager to take the lead in fighting back against Trump’s policies. One example is Attorney General Rob Bonta, who’s actively speaking out against federal actions.
“We have such a deep bench in California. You know we have a two-thirds Democratic majority in the legislature. All of our statewide elected officials are Democrats,” Swanson said.
Bills that set aside a total of $50 million to sue Trump’s administration and provide legal aid to California’s immigrant communities sit on Newsom’s desk. He has yet to sign them, but indicated he will.
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