Within minutes of President Trump announcing Thursday that the US would leave the Paris Accord, a coalition of states and mayors across the nation vowed to fight the White House and assume global leadership roles in the fight against climate change.



By Tuesday, nearly 250 mayors and a dozen states had joined alliances promising to uphold the terms of the landmark global agreement. Some of the most vocal opposition to Trump's decision came from California, where Gov. Jerry Brown called Trump's withdrawal a "misguided and insane course of action." He added that his state was "ready for battle."

The battlefield began taking shape just moments later, when Brown, along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, announced the formation of the United States Climate Alliance. The governors billed the organization as "a coalition that will convene US states committed to upholding the Paris Climate Agreement and taking aggressive action on climate change."

Though the three governors who launched the alliance were all Democrats, by Friday Republicans Charlie Baker, governor of Massachusetts, and Phil Scott, governor of Vermont, had signed on as well.

"The president's decision to withdraw the nation from the agreement only strengthens our commitment and makes the work of states more important," Scott said in a statement.

By Monday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, Delaware Gov. John Carney, Hawaii Gov. David Ige, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo — all Democrats — had joined the alliance. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed on as well.

Around the same time the governors were announcing their coalition Thursday, a group of California lawmakers, led by State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, also took climate matters into their own hands, calling on Brown to convene a climate summit.

Cities also got in on the action. Shortly after Trump's announcement, scores of mayors from cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake City released a statement promising to "adopt, honor, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement."



The group of mayors began with just over 60 members, but by Tuesday had grown to include the leaders of 246 cities.

Bill Peduto — mayor of Pittsburgh, which Trump singled out in his speech — also tweeted that "we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement" and said, "It's now up to cities to lead."