My idea of a progressive is someone willing to use all the powers and resources available to the government to make the biggest positive difference in people’s lives. This is why I ran for local office, and why countless colleagues of mine, in cities big and small, swore an oath to serve their communities. The challenges are steep, but we’re up to the job — every day we use the tools available, or innovate new ones, to try to make the lives of people in our cities better.
That progressive vision is now under threat on the national level. The first 100 days of the Trump presidency have imperiled progress in our communities like never before. The federal government’s open hostility to our constituents, our needs and our solutions has made serving in local government that much harder.
Local government leaders across the country are stepping up to the challenge and fighting back, but we will need all the support we can find from state and national leaders if we are going to see our communities through this moment.
We all know the federal government has largely abandoned urban policy over the last 50 years, but the Trump administration signaled that it would be more than hands off — it would be expressly detrimental to American cities. Before President Trump took office, I released a report detailing federal dollars that come to Syracuse — to city departments, our housing authority, our school district, partners across the community and residents who receive federal benefits. We knew that hundreds of millions of dollars that affect people’s lives were at stake. We concluded that an administration openly hostile to diversity, density and liberal ideas could quickly cost us tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.
It was not a warning I offered lightly, but one we needed to take it seriously. Since then, refugee resettlement agencies have laid off entire staffs. Community leaders have begun to express concern over future investment through the CHIPS Act. Local officials are trying to figure out what we’ll do if major federally supported infrastructure projects — like the I-81 highway removal or lead water line replacement — are changed or cut midstream.
We’re losing sleep every night trying to come up with alternative plans for delivering essential services and protecting vulnerable members of our community. The math is not adding up.
So city hall is fighting back. Recently, I joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and small business owners to talk about the impact of tariffs on local businesses. I’m standing with advocates to call out cuts in fair housing enforcement. And we’ve continued to find ways to stand up for those targeted by the Trump administration’s bad decisions, from organized labor to communities of new Americans.
I’m not alone. My colleagues, like those in Local Progress, a network of progressive local officials from across the country, are standing up. We have each other’s backs — and each other’s phone numbers. Mayors, council members, county commissioners, along with my fellow auditors and comptrollers across the country speak regularly to strategize the best ways to fight back against disastrous policy choices made by the Trump administration and to share ideas on how we respond. The first 100 days have been difficult, but we know we are stronger together.
This moment calls for leadership from the ground up. City halls are closest to the people we serve. As former President Joe Biden liked to joke about the federal government, “we do war and peace, you do everything else.” He was right. Local government leaders, while often the last voices called upon in these important national conversations, have been among the first to feel the effects of the Trump administration’s decisions.
We will continue to be the first line of defense for marginalized communities, trying as best we can to fill in the gaps created when the federal government fails to deliver.
Alex Marion is the city auditor of Syracuse, N.Y.
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