Newsom has done so in the past, but with only two years left as governor and the Democratic party in search of a reboot, Newsom leading the resistance against Trump could help the governor's national ambitions.
"He's an obvious foil for Trump over the next couple of years," said Rick Klein, ABC News' Washington bureau chief. "The platform he'll have, the opportunity he'll have to lead and put his state in stark contrast to what we'll see under Trump is a really nice alignment for Newsom, politically."
Two days after the election, Newsom announced the convening of a special session to "Trump-proof" California. The goal of the special session is to secure $25 million to fund lawsuits to fight the actions of the Trump administration if it challenges the state's laws on immigration, reproductive rights and the environment.
But, USC and UC Berkeley political communications professor Dan Schnur says that so far, the special session appears to be more performative than substantive.
"Either way, Newsom would be pushing back on Donald Trump, but the fact that he needed to call a special session of the Legislature in order to attract additional public and media attention suggests at least that -- in addition to his substantive goals -- that he's looking for attention both in California and nationally and he's seemed to have achieved it," said Schnur.
Schnur said the special session is also an opportunity to unite California Democrats around something they agree on: their dislike of Trump. But, Schnur points out that being enemy No. 1 of the Trump administration may not be in California's best interest.
"He still relies on the federal government," said Schnur. "He relies on them for help with natural disasters, for financial support for any number of government programs. So, what Newsom is trying to do now is to figure out a way to be confrontational with trump on one hand without completely poisoning the relationship on the other."
"It wasn't lost on me that he broke slightly with President Biden over his decision to pardon his son hunter. there will be other opportunities for him to put out a brand that's a little different than the Biden-Harris brand," said Klein.
Trump has proven there are limits to legal challenges, and some believe all of the cases and charges against Trump helped him get re-elected.