Gov. Gavin Newsom demands the National Governors Association take a stand against President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to other states — or face losing his state’s membership.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken a public stand against the National Governors Association (NGA), warning that he will withdraw California’s participation if the NGA fails to explicitly condemn President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops across state lines—especially when doing so over the objections of the receiving state’s governor.
In a letter to NGA leadership, Newsom called Trump’s actions “infringement of state sovereignty” and wrote that deploying troops without the home-state governor’s consent “harms the interests of states.”
He urged a bipartisan denunciation: “If the National Governors Association cannot unite to condemn this misuse of power … then California should have no membership in it.”
Newsom’s move comes amid mounting tension over federal intervention in state matters. In June, Trump federalized California’s National Guard and sent 700 Marines to Los Angeles during protests over immigration raids—a deployment Newsom and the state legally challenged.
A federal judge in San Francisco agreed, issuing a ruling that the administration exceeded its authority and ordering the return of control to state command, though an appeals court has since stayed parts of that order.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has joined Newsom in pressuring the NGA to take a stand. He, too, has threatened to pull Illinois from the group if it remains silent on the issue.
The NGA traditionally focuses on nonpartisan issues, such as disaster response and infrastructure, but recent deployments have drawn it into constitutional and sovereignty debates.
Legal battles and political fallout are likely ahead. Newsom’s administration has already filed suit—Newsom v. Trump—to prevent further federal overreach in California.
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