When Trump campaigned in the state recently, he painted a dire picture of California's politicians and policies. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal aid for natural disasters including wildfires.
"There were times during his first term when he did follow up his bluster with action and he's already made it clear that if Newsom does not work with him particularly on water policy, he may do the same thing in the future," said Dan Schnur, a political communications professor at USC and UC Berkeley.
"One of our central concerns is that he is going to play favorites with the states and target progressive states - states that didn't vote his way - to both restrict funding, federal resources for fire emergencies even for housing vouchers, other safety net resources, but then also put us under attack. Challenge our laws and all the infrastructure we have here to protect our communities," said Victor Leung, chief legal and advocacy officer for ACLU of California.
Reacting to Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in part "California will seek to work with the incoming president - but let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our constitution and uphold the rule of law."
California has dramatically different views on issues like abortion. On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood said they have a plan to hold their ground and forge ahead.
Also, California's large immigrant community with millions undocumented could be under attack with threats of mass deportations. The ACLU says they're standing by to file lawsuits and enact legislation to protect Californians.
"They want to roll back civil rights. They want to suppress communities. They want to enforce a lot of their aggressive policies. So we take them at their word and we're standing by to try to challenge those policies and protect Californians," said Leung.
California can offer protection to its citizens on these issues that other parts of the country cannot, the same way voters in deep red states may have felt a greater level of protection from Biden administration policies.