In the final months of the Biden-Harris administration, the Democratic governor is seeking federal waiver extensions and other monetary assistance before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated. Trump has already slammed these efforts and is no stranger to threatening to withhold funding in retaliation to California.
Despite this, Newsom has vowed to make his state the liberal foil to conservative policies coming out of Trump's Oval Office, especially when it comes to policies related to climate change, abortion rights, and LGBTQ+ protections. The state filed more than 100 lawsuits against Trump during his first term.
This is all on top of the special legislative session he already called in December. Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta say the state is ready to challenge the new president after Trump has promised to take action with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. He has also talked about abortion, climate policies, and gun control.
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"My job is not to wake up every single day and get a crowbar and try to put it in the spokes of the wheel of the Trump administration," Newsom said in a virtual press conference on November 8. "That said, I'm not naive either, and we're pragmatic and we will stand firm."
Menlo College political scientist Melissa Michelson said Americans can expect dozens of lawsuits from blue states against the Trump administration, but this is not an abnormal practice.
"This is federalism and it is one of the systems that the founding fathers put into place to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, that neither the state government or the federal government should be all-powerful," Michelson said. "There should be pushback between the two and that constant fighting - whether it's a Republican or a Democrat in the White House. That's all part of the system. The lawsuits and the fighting is actually the design, to slow things down."
Michelson said this is so citizens don't experience policy whiplash every time a new administration or party takes power.
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"[The founders] were very worried about stability," she said. "What would they experienced before the the constitutional transformation of 1787 was that laws were changing too fast and that was very confusing and destabilizing for Americans. And so the idea that laws are in place, they're hard to change that there's a lot of stickiness in the system and a lot of those roadblocks and checks and balances that's all to make our lives better."
What's next in Newsom's DC trip?
On Wednesday, Newsom will attend the California state delegation's lunch on the Hill, sources told ABC News.
Newsom's office said his Washington trip is a continuation of a "long-standing partnership" between the governor and Biden.
"Governor Newsom will advocate for key priorities to advance the health and well-being of all Californians - including disaster funding, the approval of state health care initiatives aimed at improving access to health and mental health care for Californians, and crucial climate waivers," his office said in a statement.
Prior to his Tuesday meeting with the president, Newsom met separately with Biden's counselor Steve Ricchetti.