A group of six Democratic governors took part in a reportedly tense phone call Wednesday night with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urging him and members of his caucus to fight more aggressively against President Donald Trump's nominees and legislation, The New York Times reported.
Schumer, with help from Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Laura Kelly of Kansas, convened the call to discuss a unified response to Trump's executive order to suspend federal grants. But two participants and five other people briefed in the conversation told the Times that the conversation quickly moved on to the broader question of how to stop the president from enacting his agenda through Congress.
Pritzker and Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts told Schumer that Senate Democrats should not vote for any of Trump's nominees in response to the order. Healey, noting that governors were leading the legal pushback against the Trump administration and fielding most of the complaints from constituents affected by his policies, also pressed Schumer to slow down Senate votes in general and oppose Trump more visibly and forcefully.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, argued that Democrats needed to seize as much media space as Trump and Republicans, using their platform to present their own case for governing rather than simply criticizing the president.
Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky added that rather than focusing on Trump's attempts to subvert democracy, which Democrats had put front and center in their 2024 campaign, or letting him fill the airwaves with talk of acquiring Greenland, Democrats should talk about how his policies were making life harder for the people. He said that the most difficult part of Trump's victory was that Americans would now feel the pain inflicted by his policies, suggesting Democrats should not try to prevent that as only then would Trump voters realize they had made a mistake.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York concurred, saying that while Democrats were not inclined to inflict pain on their constituents, people needed to understand that Trump lacked the same scruples.
Kelly, who is also chair of the Democratic Governors' Association, said the party needed to improve its digital outreach, and for their strategy to become "down and dirty." Schumer responded that Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., had taken a lead on the caucus' social media strategy and praised his performance. Last week, Booker gave a PowerPoint presentation on how often Democratic senators should post on their social media accounts.
Schumer defended Democratic senators' performance, saying that they contributed to the wave of backlash that forced Trump to walk back his grants suspension, and damaged the reputations of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for secretary of health and human services. He told the governors that he could not force all Democratic senators to vote against every nominee, but they could unite to oppose the most high-profile ones.
Schumer also suggested that a staff member could coordinate Trump-related messaging across Democratic governors, senators and state attorneys general, and urged the governors to pressure Republicans in their state's congressional delegation to oppose Trump policies that would hurt their constituents.
Schumer's office did not respond to a request for comment.
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