Calif. and Ill. governors may quit NGA over Guard moves

The Democratic governors of California and Illinois are warning they will leave the National Governors Association unless the bipartisan group speaks out about President Donald Trump’s recent cross‑state deployments of National Guard troops, a dispute that has highlighted divisions among governors over federal authority and state sovereignty. The push from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker comes after attempts this week to send Texas National Guard members to Chicago and California Guard members to Portland to protect federal immigration facilities and personnel.

Newsom wrote in a letter to fellow governors, "If we cannot come together, on a bipartisan basis, on this basic principle of state sovereignty, what purpose does the National Governors Association serve?" Pritzker echoed that concern in a separate letter, saying the association’s credibility rests on applying principles consistently, "regardless of which administration attacks them." Both governors contend the deployments should be of concern to all governors because they involve movement of state-controlled forces without the receiving governors' consent.

Some Republican governors have...