Where a better Trump resistance would start – Governors and attorneys general have more powers to fight Trump than congressional Democrats – The Washington Post
By Perry Bacon Jr. Governors and attorneys general have more powers to fight Trump than congressional Democrats. March 10, 2025 7 min
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) speaks during a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 2 in Pittsburgh. (Jeff Swensen/For The Washington Post)
Many rank-and-file Democrats are furious with party leaders in Washington for their lackluster response to the Trump administration. But they might be complaining about the wrong Democrats.
Governors, attorneys general and other state-level Democratic officials should play leading roles in the fight against President Donald Trump because they have more formal powers than congressional Democrats to restrain him and can implement alternative policies that will help the party win elections over the long term.
That’s the argument of Democratic strategists Arkadi Gerney and Sarah Knight — and they are correct.
Last May, Gerney and Knight sent a 178-page report to Democratic politicians, operatives and donors that laid out ways officials in blue states can most aggressively use their powers. It was modeled after the tactics of red-state Republican governors and attorneys general when Joe Biden was president. This approach would have been useful even if Kamala Harris had been elected, but it’s particularly relevant in a second Trump administration.
(The full report is not public, but the two strategists summarized its outlines in an American Prospect essay.)
