Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger were officially sworn in as the new governors of New Jersey and Virginia this past week. Their inaugurations bring the total number of Democratic governors to 24, the highest number since 2010, and the total number of elected female governors to 14, an all-time high.
Both governors’ first days in office sent signals about the Democratic Party’s direction — Sherrill’s inaugural speech tore into Trump far more than I expected — but two aspects of their first week stood out the most.
Democrats are moving on immigration — fast
This week marked exactly one year since Congress passed the Laken Riley Act, a law that requires the detention of illegal immigrants who are arrested for or charged with various criminal offenses. The law was initially written purely as a Republican messaging bill — it’s so broad that it requires detention, without bond, even for non-violent misdemeanors — but gained momentum after Democrats realized the salience of immigration following the 2024 election. It passed Congress with supermajorities in both houses; in a testament to just how panicked Democrats were about their immigration record, 46 Democratic House members, 12 Democratic senators, including nine of the 10 representing Biden-to-Trump states, and a majority of Latino senators voting ‘yes.’
A year later, the immigration landscape has shifted profoundly. Look no further than Spanberger, who on her first day in office this week, rolled out a series of 10 executive orders. Among them: a repeal of an order signed by her Republican predecessor, Glenn Youngkin, that required police to assist ICE in apprehension and deportation efforts.
It’s worth noting some nuances here. Youngkin had only signed his order last February, hardly making it central to the commonwealth’s fabric, and Spanberger announced last August that she would repeal it, meaning the decision was not a response to any recent events.
Still, the willingness of Spanberger to not just repeal Youngkin’s directive but emphasize that she was doing so stuck out. The order was not snuck by or downplayed — it was included in a publicized press release, and it was part of a filmed signing ceremony orchestrated by her team.
Spanberger signs immigration executive order.
It’s difficult to imagine Spanberger — who has spent her political career working to ensure the words “moderate” and “centrist” are included in any sentences mentioning her name — positioning herself this way a year ago. The center of gravity on immigration is shifting within the Democratic Party quickly.
The week was chock full of evidence of this fact. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, whose state shifted more to Trump in 2024 than any other swing state, largely due to the immigration issue, publicly went after the administration’s immigration strategy this week, arguing that “resources are being diverted and instead of going after criminals, people that are making us less safe, they’re going after these quotas.” On Wednesday, former WH Chief of Staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who’s running a proto-campaign for president largely focused on scolding his party for becoming too liberal, told NPR that ICE has “become a lawless mob” and “occupying force in our cities.”
And then, there was the New York Times-Siena poll. The poll has become a bit of a gold standard for political nerds, often predicting coming developments before other pollsters; in 2024, for example, it almost exactly nailed Trump’s 13-point victory in Florida, when most other outlets found Harris trailing by single digits. On Thursday, it found Trump’s approval rating on immigration, once his strongest issue, plummeting to a -18 spread.
It’s part of a broader decline over the past year, but it seems that the recent tumult in Minneapolis has had an impact.
Emphasis and arrow mine. Chart credit: Silver Bulletin
Trump’s approval rating in general has declined 3.8% and 3.2% in the RealClearPolitics and Silver Bulletin averages, respectively, in the two weeks after Renee Good was killed.
Emphasis and arrow mine. Chart credit: RealCleatPolitics
It’s too soon to say exactly where Americans are landing — notably, the Times-Siena poll found voters still narrowly approve of the president’s handling of “border security,” which they view as a distinct issue from “immigration” — but it’s clear the public is moving. And Democrats, even moderates, are following.
Sherrill’s playbook spreads
The cold of winter is adding fuel to the affordability fire.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill wasted no time fulfilling her most prominent election promise, pausing her inauguration speech to sign, on stage, an executive order aiming to freeze coming rate hikes. She also nodded to the take-more-credit school of Democratic thought, telling New Jerseyans she hopes they “remember me when you open your electric bill and it hasn’t gone up another 20 percent.”)
Sherrill’s promise to freeze electricity costs came to be seen as the most effective move of the 2025 cycle, and other governors seem to be taking the lesson. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced on Thursday that residents will receive a temporary deferral of their electricity and natural gas payments. The initiative comes with a caveat: utility companies will likely recoup the full amount from most customers in the spring and summer months, so it’s as much about smoothing costs out month-to-month as reducing total annual expenses.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee announced his own effort focused on electricity costs, which he says could save residents up to $1 billion. The effort would severely roll back Rhode Island’s ambitious clean energy law, mirroring a recent move from Healey. Climate advocacy has, as I’ve previously written in here, become a casualty of Democrats' renewed focus on electricity costs. For now, even in the bluest states, the party is signaling its choice clearly.
Klob’s in
Put your combs up: Sen. Amy Klobuchar filed to run for governor of Minnesota on Thursday. It’s still not an official announcement — that’s on the way “in the coming days,” per multiple reports — but it’s as close to confirmation as we can get. As I’ve previously written, it’s part of the reversal of the governor-to-Senate pipeline, and further evidence of the shift of policy-making power to the states.
That’s all for this week, folks — enjoy your weekend.
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