PORTLAND, Maine — The Supreme Court has thrust America’s governors to the frontlines of the culture wars, an uncomfortable position for many that is upending their election races this year and challenging the above-the-fray pragmatism many have long cultivated.
Far from Washington and its partisan gridlock, governors have remained relatively popular and insulated from the polarization in national politics, able to win states that would typically never vote for their party and to leave divisive issues to their congressional delegation while they focus on more practical problems like fixing roads.
“Not anymore,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat and the new chairman of the National Governors Association, a bipartisan group of governors that concluded its first in-person summer meeting since the pandemic here Friday. “You’ve got no choice. If you’re a governor right now, you’re picking sides.”
Recent court decisions on abortion, guns and the environment are making it harder for governors to escape the nationalization of politics, as much as they might try to resist it, according to interviews with nearly a dozen governors who attended the meeting, which is intended to be a bipartisan sharing of policy solutions on issues like education and infrastructure.
Governors now wield unprecedented — and in some cases sole — control over the future of abortion access in their state, putting the issue front-and-center in this fall’s elections.
That’s especially true in places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where Democratic governors say they are the only check on their Republican-controlled legislatures.
“Governors have the ability to veto odious legislation that violates those rights, so governors races are especially important,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, who is facing term limits, said of abortion rights. “So it’s a call for people to come out and vote.”
While cross-party voting has almost disappeared from Senate, House and presidential races, that’s not true for governors. Deep red states like Louisiana and Kansas currently have Democratic governors, while famously liberal states like Massachusetts and Vermont have Republican ones.
“Typically, the people that you’re voting for in Washington are much more partisan. Washington is completely dysfunctional because of the divisiveness,” said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican maverick who broke with his party over former President Donald Trump. and has been able to remain popular in his deep blue state.
“Usually, governors are not quite as partisan — the governors aren’t and the races aren’t. Voters usually just want somebody who can run the state,” Hogan continued. “But now, it has the potential to be much more divisive.”
Hogan, like Wolf in Pennsylvania, faces term limits, and Maryland voters will head to the polls…
Read More: Abortion politics drag governors into the national partisan fray
