Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and JB Pritzker (D-IL) threatened to pull their states out of the National Governors Association on Monday if the bipartisan group does not take a stand on President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
Newsom and Pritzker made their feelings about the recent troop deployments apparent in separate letters to the NGA. Both accused the group of being silent on the issue.
“It should not be difficult for state leaders, regardless of partisan affiliation, to agree that politicizing our states’ National Guard and deploying the Guard from one state into another, over the objections of the home-state Governor, harms the interests of states,” Newsom wrote to all governors.
His correspondence references the Trump administration’s decision to send California National Guard troops into Portland after a judge temporarily halted the federal order activating the Oregon National Guard. After California joined Oregon in its lawsuit over the troop deployments, the same judge temporarily blocked the mobilization of National Guardsmen from the Golden State.
Newsom previously opposed Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard to quell the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots in June.
“If we cannot come together, on a bipartisan basis, on this basic principle of state sovereignty, what purpose does the National Governors Association serve?” he asked. “If the National Governors Association cannot coalesce around this, I will have no choice but to withdraw California’s membership.”
Newsom also demanded that other governors do the same. Pritzker is the first to consider heeding that call.
The Illinois governor called on the NGA to speak out against the Trump administration’s “unconstitutional” deployment of the Texas National Guard to Chicago.
“If the President continues overriding Governors to deploy military assets into another state against another Governor’s will, we have abandoned the foundational principles that have protected our Republic for nearly 250 years,” Pritzker wrote to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK), who chairs the NGA. “This action must be denounced immediately and unequivocally by the National Governors Association.”
Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration on Monday, asking a federal court to halt the deployment of National Guard units from Illinois and Texas. The federal government has until Wednesday at midnight to respond to the lawsuit.
“The credibility of the National Governors Association — and our integrity as state executives — rests on our willingness to apply our principles consistently, regardless of which administration attacks them,” Pritzker said. “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”
Unlike the bipartisan group, the Democratic Governors Association denounced Trump’s move.
PRITZKER VOWS TO BOOT NOEM’S ICE ‘THUGS’ FROM CHICAGO
“It is appalling that Donald Trump continues to disregard the executive authority of our nation’s governors as Commanders in Chief of their National Guards,” said Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS), who leads the DGA. “His decision to deploy the National Guard in Oregon and Illinois over the objection of their states’ governors — just as he did in California and has threatened to do in other states — is a blatant abuse of power and an attack on state sovereignty.”
Newsom and Pritzker are considered strong contenders for a possible 2028 presidential run as they continue vigorously opposing Trump’s policies.
, 2025-10-07 03:00:00, 
, Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, David Zimmermann
