The fiscal pain comes as up to 20 governors face reelection in 2026.
President Donald Trump’s landmark legislation is driving a giant hole in governors’ budgets in a midterm year.
By slashing health care and food assistance for low-income Americans, Republicans in Washington are passing tremendous costs onto the states, leaving local leaders from both parties grasping for ways to make up for billions in lost federal dollars. The cuts are already threatening to endanger governors’ education, public safety and disaster relief funds.
And this is all happening as up to 20 state leaders face reelection in 2026, forcing them to figure out how to message the fallout as their parties battle for control over the House next year.
“We don’t put these budgets together that have a lot of fluff and rainy day funds that are easily accessible,” said Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association. “All of us are trying to figure out how to mitigate the damage that will be done to our constituents.”
Kelly, whose term ends next year, said governors across the country are now in “a world of hurt and concern.”
In deep blue New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is contending with an $11 billion budget hole as she faces reelection next year, possibly against Trump acolyte Rep. Elise Stefanik. Some 2,500 miles away in Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is warning the state can’t even begin to cover the losses from the federal legislation passed earlier this month. And in Nevada, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has to try to persuade his voters of the merits of his party’s tax cuts geared toward the working class as he runs for reelection, even though he too has warned against slashing Medicaid.