Demo­c­rat gov­er­nors spot­light they’re the ‘last line of defense’ against Trump

As they gath­er for their annu­al win­ter meet­ing, the nation’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­er­nors say they’re the “best path for­ward” for a par­ty now out of pow­er in the nation’s cap­i­tal, and the “last line of defense” as Pres­i­dent-elect Trump returns to the White House.

The Democ­rats lost the White House and the Sen­ate major­i­ty, and failed to flip the House, in last mon­th’s elec­tions.

But Democ­rats held the line in this year’s guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tions, and con­tin­ue to hold 23 of the 50 gov­er­nors’ offices.

The Demo­c­ra­t­ic Gov­er­nors Asso­ci­a­tion (DGA) high­lights their gov­er­nors “rep­re­sent more than half of the U.S. pop­u­la­tion, includ­ing in five of the sev­en biggest pres­i­den­tial bat­tle­grounds (AZ, MI, NC, PA and WI) as well as deep red states like Kansas and Ken­tucky.”

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“At a time when the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty is look­ing for the path back to vic­to­ry, Demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­er­nors con­tin­ue to win by earn­ing the trust of vot­ers by meet­ing them where they are on their biggest every­day chal­lenges,” DGA exec­u­tive direc­tor Meghan Mee­han-Drap­er high­light­ed.

And she empha­sized that “who your gov­er­nor is has nev­er mat­tered more – and with Repub­li­cans in con­trol of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, there will be even high­er stakes and more resources nec­es­sary for the 38 guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tions in 2025 and 2026, includ­ing the hard work already under­way to flip Vir­ginia and hold New Jer­sey in 2025.”

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Demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­er­nors and state attor­neys gen­er­al played a high-pro­file role in push­ing back via polit­i­cal and legal bat­tles dur­ing Trump’s first term in the White House – and sev­er­al are ready to reprise that role.

Two of the most high-pro­file Demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­er­nors, Cal­i­for­ni­a’s Gavin New­som and Illi­nois’ JB Pritzk­er, have already begun to “Trump-proof” their solid­ly blue states.

And Pritzk­er, along with Col­orado Gov. Jared Polis, last month launched a group called Gov­er­nors Safe­guard­ing Democ­ra­cy, in order to resist the incom­ing Trump admin­is­tra­tion.

Long­time Demo­c­ra­t­ic strate­gist Maria Car­dona point­ed to her par­ty’s gov­er­nors as a “focus of progress and pro­tec­tion” with Trump return­ing to the White House.

But Car­dona, a Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Com­mit­tee mem­ber, said the gov­er­nors will also “be the ones that are going to show Amer­i­cans the path for­ward.” 

And they will also be some of the ear­ly high-pro­file poten­tial con­tenders for the 2028 Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial nom­i­na­tion.

New­som, Pritzk­er, Polis, Michi­gan Gov. Gretchen Whit­mer, Penn­syl­va­nia Gov. Josh Shapiro, Mary­land Gov. Wes Moore and Ken­tucky Gov. Andy Beshear, are among the names often men­tioned as pos­si­ble White House hope­fuls in the next pres­i­den­tial elec­tion.