Blue State Dems Are Having an Overdue Reckoning With Their Own Power

This article is part of TPM Cafe, the House of TPM for the opinion and the analysis of the news.

When the Texas Republicans announced plans for a Gerrymander in mid-December to make them at least five other American house seats, he triggered a chain reaction. The Democrats of Texas left the state to break the quorum. Democratic governors began to discuss countermeasures. And the former prosecutor General Eric Holder, president of the National Democratic Rediscovery Committee, reversed the course after a decade of vocal opposition to the partisan redistribution and called on the Democrats to embrace gerrymandering in the Blue States, at least temporarily.

The immediate title concerns redistribution. But the most important history is the growing will of blue states to use power with more force at a time of the decline in federal reliability and the increasing authoritarian threat. If the Gerrymandering is now back on the table, then the real opportunity lies in something wider: a more serious and strategic approach to the power of blue state.

Gerrymandering is a controversial tool and an uncertain consequence – but it points to a broader truth: the states are powerful. For decades, progressive policy has been ambivalent, even resistant, to the use of this power with ages. But if the heads of state are finally ready to handle it, we need more than the tactical redistribution. We need a deliberate and coordinated strategy to use state authority to defend democracy, move national dynamics, serve communities and re -engage the electorate.

In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, a coherent theme that emerged was that too many voters on the left sat down. Fear and warnings were not enough. What is necessary now is a clear demonstration and focused on the values of the governance of public interests – leaders fighting visibly and shamelessly for us and for democracy.

This East A moment of glass breakage. So let’s talk about all the available glass, not just Congress cards.

States governments have an extraordinary range of tools that can be boldly deployed and coordinated. And power can be grouped through states for an even more important impact. The conservatives are masterful on this subject. Most recently, 26 right financial agents have signed a joint letter to Blackrock, urging the company to abandon the principles of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment or risk losing state affairs. And following Trump’s decree last week, banking regulators ordered bank regulators to stop companies or industries led by the conservatives “Dépanrez” as Crypto, the same group issued coordinated support. These coordinated actions are routine in the tight conservative governance ecosystem.

Progressive heads of state can also coordinate responses – not as reprisals, but as a legitimate exercise in public power in response to federal dysfunction. The goal should not be to punish the inhabitants of the red states, but to protect democratic institutions, to protect communities and to improve the lives of people. In the short term, states can do a lot to counter the detangling of protective federal programs and uncontrolled federal overtaking. Many of these tools are already used, although rarely presented as part of a broader strategic vision.

For example, states can enter into memorands of understanding and interstate compacts to harmonize politics, share resources and strengthen their collective power. Although the interstate compacts may seem obscure, they are commonplace: more than 250 exist today and the states participate in an average of 25 each. States can also use their collective purchasing power to influence business behavior and offset markets. And major states such as California – the world’s fourth economy – can conclude international climate, trade and human rights agreements, forging alliances that bypass federal paralysis.

States can go further. Maryland and New York are proposing legislation to retain sending of federal tax funds from state employees, while the federal government remains late on the financing of prolidate. New York legislators plan to revoke state tax credits for Avelo Airlines, which contracts with immigration and customs application for expulsion flights – offering a model to take advantage of state incentives to put pressure on federal entrepreneurs who challenge public values. The attorneys general general investigate the extremist networks operating within their jurisdictions and coordinate with counterparts from other states to evolve these efforts.

Legislatures also have powerful surveillance functions that can surface abuse and create visibility. Even in the red states, legislators can demand access to detention facilities and Sue when they have been refused, as Florida legislators did it after the administration of Governor Ron Desantis blocked their monitoring of the Alligator Alcatraz. The legislators of several states could organize joint audiences to investigate federal surpassing and fault, as well as right -wing influence operations.

Some states also refuse to cooperate with ice, as Delaware has done when it has become the seventh state to adopt legislation prohibiting local collaboration with the federal application of immigration. Others, including California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan, advance bills “no secret police” to unmask federal agents operating anonymously in communities. In Boston this week, more than 20 legislators from states across the country have held a joint press conference to highlight these efforts.

States can also limit military cooperation. The Republican Governor of Vermont recently refused a federal request for the deployment of the National Guard. Washington prevented childcare units outside the state from entering without explicit authorization. States can reject requests from the Ministry of Justice motivated politically for voters data and protect state -sensitive files from the federal improper use. Illinois protects health data related to autism, while New Mexico and Washington refuse to share the social benefits files.

These actions are already underway, but often in isolation, with little coordination or public visibility. It is a missed opportunity. These efforts rarely make national newspapers or meet in a history that the public can recognize: a story of heads of state using all the tools at their disposal to protect the rights, lives and the future that we all deserve.

The fact that the power of the state in a sophisticated and multi-polished response to federal disintegration and the anti-democratic threat cannot return the house card before 2026. But it does something just as important-it creates a visible and coherent history of emergency and public leadership. It demonstrates the capacity and a desire to act. It helps to rebuild confidence and energy among voters who have become disillusioned or disengaged. It strengthens capacity and strengthens the collective muscle of governance at the level of the state. And this inspires civic commitment from the organization of the district to electoral participation.

If we are serious about the confrontation of threats confronted with American democracy, it is time to fully embrace the power of blue state. Not as a salt -back, not to punish the people of the red states, but as the entrusting exercise of power in the public interest – to improve the lives of people. Now is not the time to avoid the power we have. It’s now time to reach it.

Gaby Goldstein is founder + president of State futurewhich supports the communities of practice for state decision -makers. Thanks to working groups, political research and strategic support, state futures allow state leaders to learn from each other, innovate together and take coordinated measures between states.