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Californians anticipate mix of conflict, cooperation with Trump administration
California's Republican Assembly Leader calls on President-elect Trump to partner with California, as others see the potential for the Golden State's policies to come into the cross-hairs of the incoming president, who has often criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom and the liberal state.
BERKELEY - The top Republican in California's State Assembly said Friday that he is reaching out to President-elect Donald Trump, asking him to partner with California when he assumes office in January 2025.
"I wanted to send a letter to the President-elect saying hey, there's a lot of people out here in California who want to work with you," Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Chico), "It's working across the aisle and building coalitions, and it's working with President-elect Trump. We should be doing both of those things."
Gallagher said he wrote an open letter to Trump congratulating him on his election victory, with the hope that California can find common ground with Trump on issues such as crime, the environment, infrastructure, housing, and lowering energy costs.
"Let's have energy sources from a lot of different sources. Nuclear is something we should be talking about, many different sources of energy that are affordable," Gallagher said.
Federal funding for crime reduction is another area Gallagher says he hopes to see some collaboration.
"We can work with the Trump administration to get federal grants to help support law enforcement to go after these cartels, these transnational gangs that are coming across our border," Gallagher said.
California has often been in the cross-hairs of Trump's attacks, however, on issues such as immigration, sanctuary cities, DACA youth, abortion rights, and climate change.
Governor Gavin Newsom has called for a special session to begin on December 2 to discuss ways to protect California policies from a new Trump administration that might seek to follow through on campaign promises such as mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, ending offshore wind industry projects, and cutting funds to schools that teach certain subjects or recognize transgender students.
Newsom's office said, "The Governor has repeatedly said he wants to work with the incoming administration where there is common ground to best support Californians."
On Friday, a student group at UC Berkeley held a demonstration in front of Sproul Hall.
"We're calling out the new Trump administration and the failures of the Democratic Party," said Finn Does, a UC Berkeley first-year student who helped organize the rally.
He says both parties are not paying enough attention to what matters to him most.
"For me, as a young person, I think it's housing. I think it's rent. The climate crisis is a security issue in terms of where we're going to live," Does said.
"Immigration, abortion, the innocent lives in Gaza are all the things I care about," said Ariela Lara, a UC Berkeley incoming first-year student and member of the Sunrise student group.
The students said they feel that both parties listen to wealthy donors and corporations instead of working students and people struggling to make ends meet.
"We're out here because there's so much at stake and at-risk as young people," Lara said.
Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU. Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com. Call her at 510-326-5529. Or follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU and read her other reports on her bio page.