Source: Politics<\/p>\n
PORTLAND, Maine \u2014 Congress is making the presidency a grind and the Supreme Court is kicking policymaking to the states. Being a governor, then, should be one of America\u2019s hottest jobs.<\/p>\n
Yet so many governors are still angling to be president.<\/p>\n
Last month\u2019s string of Supreme Court decisions \u2014 rolling back five decades of abortion rights, curtailing the Biden administration\u2019s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and dismantling state-level gun controls \u2014 has heaved new, urgent responsibilities onto the laps of the nation\u2019s executives. They can expand or contract access to reproductive care for millions of people with the stroke of a pen. Control over other everyday activities could be next, and some governors are comfortable where they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a governor is one of the most important jobs in America right now, without a doubt,\u201d New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican who\u2019s up for reelection this fall, said at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Maine.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica as a whole has stepped up and said, \u2018Look, governors are the ones that really have an impact on our lives, so let\u2019s focus on governorships and mayorships and local government.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, while Washington\u2019s gridlock has turned some governors off of running for Congress and left a Democratic president\u2019s agenda in limbo, the toxicity for others reads more like a road map to the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really the only reason for considering it, is because of the complete divisiveness and dysfunction in Washington that everyone\u2019s completely frustrated with,\u201d Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomewhere between 60 to 70 percent of the people in America don\u2019t want Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be president,\u201d Hogan, a term-limited Republican who\u2019s teased a possible 2024 presidential bid, added. \u201cThey\u2019re looking to move in a completely different direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
A quarter of the 18 governors who traveled to Maine for the NGA conference this week have been floated as potential 2024 presidential contenders \u2014 Hogan, Sununu and New Jersey\u2019s Phil Murphy, the association\u2019s new chair, among them.<\/p>\n
But governors and political operatives affiliated with both parties say the latest crop of Supreme Court decisions have shown voters how consequential their governors, attorneys general and state lawmakers can be and could galvanize turnout in state-level elections.<\/p>\n
That same heightened profile could also give governors a shinier launching pad for a White House bid, especially if they think they can crack an electorate that\u2019s soured on leaders in Washington. A New York Times\/Siena College poll released this week found 64 percent of Democrats<\/a> don\u2019t want Biden as their nominee in 2024 and roughly half of Republicans<\/a> don\u2019t want Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s more action going on as a governor,\u201d Doug Rubin, an architect of former Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick\u2019s first campaign, said in an interview. \u201cBut I argue that just gives these governors a bigger platform to run on.\u201d<\/p>\n Governors got used to going at it alone during the early days of Covid-19. As the Trump administration downplayed the burgeoning pandemic, states fought among themselves \u2014 and at times against the federal government \u2014 for limited supplies of masks and ventilators. In place of federal mandates, governors pushed the boundaries of their executive authority through emergency orders, making unilateral decisions that dictated major components of daily life. Some watched their stars rise, and their press conferences becoming must-see TV for a nation battling a novel enemy with little guidance from the White House.<\/p>\n Two years later, that phenomenon is happening again. Governors have returned to the fore \u2014 not because of the coronavirus, which is surging once again, but because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pitting governors against each other in a battle over bodily autonomy not fought on this scale for more than a generation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a shift, there\u2019s no doubt about it,\u201d Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is seen as a 2024 presidential contender, said in an interview at the NGA meeting in Portland. \u201cAttorneys general and governors are now going to be at the forefront of making decisions about the policy for the state or at least pressing forward on policies that will protect women\u2019s rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Even a ruling that took power away from states \u2014 the decision to nullify New York\u2019s concealed carry law \u2014 has put a greater onus on blue-state governors to get inventive about how to tamp down gun violence without sweeping gun restrictions.<\/p>\n And the threat of more rollbacks to come from the court has Democrats warning that same-sex marriage, access to contraception and other rights could very well reach governors\u2019 desks next.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be inherently more creative,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cBecause we have to deal with these issues, especially in a moment when Congress isn\u2019t agreed on what the way forward is.\u201d<\/p>\n The fall of Roe v. Wade has sent states to their corners. Red states moved swiftly to ban and restrict access to abortion, while blue-state governors are rushing to make their states safe havens for providers and border-crossing patients. And governors on both sides are burnishing their national profiles in doing so.<\/p>\n Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom revived his pandemic policy-fueled feud<\/a> with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis \u2014 this time over reproductive rights. While California legislators are exploring a constitutional right to an abortion, Florida is working to enforce restrictions it put on the procedure this summer. The conflict has reignited talk of their respective presidential ambitions.<\/p>\n But before they can get to 2024, governors need to get through 2022.<\/p>\n There are 36 governor\u2019s races playing out across the country this midterms cycle. Republicans hold more corner offices, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who co-chairs the Republican Governors Association, told Fox News<\/a> while in Maine that he sees \u201copportunity to really expand this map.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats are likely to flip Massachusetts and Maryland, and believe Georgia and Arizona are in play. But the party is staring down tough fights to hold on to governor\u2019s mansions in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Kansas.<\/p>\n North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association, said the Supreme Court decisions should serve as a wake-up call for Democrats to invest more in state-level races. And not just for governor \u2014 a single lawmaker can make the difference between a governor having veto power or being overridden by a legislature with opposing views.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans have known for a long time about the importance of governors and state legislative races. They spend a lot of time and money there,\u201d Cooper said in an interview. \u201cDemocrats did not spend as much time on state legislative and governor\u2019s races, and we\u2019re paying for that now.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper believes the fight over abortion rights will help galvanize voters, particularly suburban women who are often key in close races. In the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania \u2014 all currently led by Democrats \u2014 who wins governors offices this fall could potentially decide abortion access for millions of people. Even before the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs decision, concerns over the future of reproductive rights fueled a record-breaking first-quarter fundraising haul for the DGA\u2019s campaign arm \u2014 though Democrats still trailed their Republican counterparts over that same period.<\/p>\n Governors’ races are \u201cmore important than ever,\u201d Cooper said. But, he acknowledged, \u201cthe election of the president is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n If the Supreme Court rulings have affected the presidential political calculus for governors, they gave little indication of it as they milled about a Holiday Inn in downtown Portland on Thursday.<\/p>\n Pritzker, a billionaire who\u2019s fueled speculation about his presidential ambitions by addressing Democrats in New Hampshire<\/a> and could potentially reach into his deep pockets to make sizable donations to governors and Democrats in battleground states, said he\u2019s \u201centirely focused\u201d on his reelection campaign. Sununu told Fox News<\/a> something similar.<\/p>\n And Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a two-term Republican who declined to seek reelection this year and has repeatedly dismissed talk of running for higher office, was clear-eyed about the Supreme Court decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why we have elections,\u201d Baker said. \u201cPeople need to make their voices heard.\u201d<\/p>\n