The Democratic Governors' Resistance Scorecard
Who's fighting and who's bending the knee?
Eight months into Trump's second presidency, Democratic governors talk resistance but deliver surrender. Of 23 blue state executives, only a handful have committed serious resources to fighting the administration. The rest offer token lawsuits and empty rhetoric while Republican’s coalesce their power.
The stakes couldn't be higher. These governors control states representing 60% of US GDP and 288 electoral votes. Their response now shapes the discourse. If Governors cannot show substantive responses to Trump then they will lose any hope of inspiring voters to actually show up.
Let's start with the failures. Fifteen Democratic governors participate only in group lawsuits filed by others, contributing no money and taking no independent action. Connecticut's Lamont, Delaware's Meyer, Kansas's Kelly, Kentucky's Beshear, Maine's Mills, Maryland's Moore, Minnesota's Walz, New Jersey's Murphy, New Mexico's Lujan Grisham, North Carolina's Stein, Oregon's Kotek, Rhode Island's McKee, Wisconsin's Evers, and Arizona's Hobbs all follow the same playbook: sign onto multistate litigation, issue press releases, do nothing else. Hobbs at least has an excuse: she governs a state Trump won and faces reelection in 2026.
Colorado's Jared Polis deserves special recognition for sitting on his hands. He co-founded Governors Safeguarding Democracy in November 2024 with Illinois's J.B. Pritzker. The organization claims to coordinate resistance across states. Yet Colorado itself has allocated nothing for litigation and filed nothing independently. Polis chairs a resistance group while resisting nothing.
Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer has chosen collaboration over confrontation. She met Trump on April 29, 2025, securing 21 F-15EX fighter jets for Selfridge Air Base. She created an Executive Directive requiring legal review of federal actions, bureaucratic theater that has yet to produce lawsuits. Perhaps she believes cooperation builds her presidential resume better than resistance.
New York's Kathy Hochul started strong but folded fast. She joined 11 states suing over tariffs on April 23, 2025. When the DOJ sued her personally over sanctuary laws, she canceled a Trump meeting, then immediately sought "common ground" on infrastructure. She funds litigation but initiates nothing independently, playing defense while Trump plays offense.
Hawaii's Josh Green and Washington's Bob Ferguson show some spine. Both joined the West Coast Health Alliance on September 3, 2025, creating alternative public health guidelines. Ferguson sued Trump 97 times during the first administration as attorney general, winning 39 cases. As governors, both participate in major multistate litigation but take little to no independent action. Past performance hasn't translated to present leadership.
Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro faces unique constraints. Republican attorney general Dave Sunday refuses to sue Trump, forcing Shapiro to file independently as governor. Despite this, he's delivered results. Shapiro negotiated directly with Trump to unfreeze $2.1 billion in Pennsylvania funding by February 24, 2025. He's challenging the withholding of $230 million in school funding through ongoing litigation. Working without his AG, he's accomplished more than governors with full support.
Illinois's J.B. Pritzker delivers more with less, making him arguably the most effective resistance governor. His state joins multistate lawsuits weekly, the highest participation rate nationally. He already flipped multiple House seats through aggressive redistricting in 2021, achieving what Newsom only now reactively attempts with Proposition 50. On September 12, 2025, he created a parallel vaccine distribution system via executive order. He shares legal strategies through Governors Safeguarding Democracy, turning his organization into an actual resistance tool that coordinates litigation across 20 states. A federal judge dismissed him from DOJ's sanctuary lawsuit in July 2025. He fought and won.
Illinois has committed over $2.5 billion to migrant services, dwarfing other states' immigrant defense funds. While California throws money at the problem and Massachusetts proposes future spending, Pritzker gets results through strategic action and proven political warfare. He gerrymandered his state, built alternative systems, wins his lawsuits, and coordinates the national resistance.
Massachusetts's Maura Healey brings both experience and unprecedented resources. As attorney general, she sued Trump's first administration 96 times, winning 77%. She knows how to beat him. Now she's proposing $400 million in state funding to offset federal cuts, eight times California's entire resistance budget. Massachusetts faces $16 billion in threatened federal funding, nearly half the state's budget. Healey's fighting for her state's survival with resources that dwarf everyone else's commitment.
California's Gavin Newsom is perhaps the most media savvy of the group. At his direction, the state allocated $50 million specifically for fighting Trump: $25 million for lawsuits, $25 million for immigrant defense. California has filed 37 independent lawsuits through August 2025, winning 17 of 19 early relief requests. Those victories protected $168 billion in federal funding, more than California's entire annual budget.
Newsom passed the Election Rigging Response Act creating Proposition 50, which would redistrict California to flip five House seats. He won a federal injunction on September 2, 2025, blocking Trump from federalizing California's National Guard. He also co-founded the West Coast Health Alliance, creating independent public health guidelines for 50 million Americans. Every action produces measurable results.
The numbers expose the resistance myth. Total resources explicitly committed to fighting Trump: California's $50 million for lawsuits and legal defense, Massachusetts's proposed $400 million to offset federal cuts. Illinois commits substantial resources through the highest lawsuit participation rate nationally and administrative costs of parallel systems, while the other 20 states contribute virtually nothing. Trump faces 328 lawsuits in his first 101 days, with California filing 37 independently and Illinois participating in more multistate litigation than any other state, while most governors only occasionally join group suits.
Success rates tell the real story. States participating in coordinated CDC grant litigation saved 80% of their funding. States that stayed out lost 95%. The 22-state coalition challenging Trump's funding freeze protected $168 billion total. California alone has a 89% success rate on preliminary injunctions. Litigation works, but only three governors seriously pursue it.
Compare this to Trump's first term, when Democratic attorneys general filed 138 lawsuits in the first year. The current pace exceeds that, but concentrated in fewer states. Or consider that Republican governors filed only 42 lawsuits against Biden in his first year. Democrats sue more but with fewer participants, a strategic weakness that concentrates risk.
Interstate compacts partially compensate for individual weakness. The West Coast Health Alliance creates binding alternative health policy for California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. Governors Safeguarding Democracy shares litigation templates across 20 states, though only Pritzker and Polis actively lead it. The 22-state funding coalition proves collective action can work when someone else does the heavy lifting.
Three governors mount real resistance: Newsom with results, Healey with resources, Pritzker with intensity. Two more, Shapiro and arguably Hochul, engage strategically within constraints. The other eighteen will need to do more to show the public just where their priorities lay.
Democratic voters expecting unified resistance from their 23 governors face a harsh reality: only a few are seriously fighting. The blue state resistance isn't a movement. It's several executives and their attorneys trying to hold back the tide while their colleagues mostly watch from the shore. We need everyone fighting, from every direction, all the time.
The 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential race will be shaped by this choice. Governors who fought Trump will claim the resistance mantle. Those who collaborated or cowered will struggle to explain why they did nothing when democracy needed defending. The scorecard is being written now in lawsuits filed, resources committed, and parallel programs forged. Most Democratic governors are failing the test.
Tell your Governors and AG’s that if they care, they'll fight. If they don’t, then they need to step aside.
If you found this article worthwhile, check out my book
Conservatism: America's Empathy Disorder
https://a.co/d/6d4b1uH
References
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WTTW Chicago. "Pritzker Compares Trump Administration's Approach to Nazi Germany During State Budget Address." February 19, 2025. https://news.wttw.com/2025/02/19/pritzker-compares-trump-administration-s-approach-nazi-germany-during-state-budget
You're doing great work Christopher. Keep it up, and thank you!
And cheers, respect and gratitude to the governors who are working so hard!!