California's rural voters have a good relationship with Sacramento's Democratic majority and want their communities to divorce the blue urban centers that dominate state politics.
Conservative residents of rural California say they are fed up with overregulation, high costs of living, and a myriad of policies coming from the Democratic-controlled state legislature. said Paul Preston, who founded California. house.
“We knew we were in a tyranny,” Preston told Fox News Digital, citing the disparity between Democrats and Republicans in state government.
Preston, a former school administrator, described California as a “one-party” state run like a communist regime by passing laws that ignore rural classes.
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Proposed map showing New California. (New California)
Under the proposed map, the new state of California would consist of nearly all of California's 58 counties, excluding most of Los Angeles County, part of Sacramento County, San Francisco, and other parts of the Bay Area. Become. Preston said the map is just a suggestion and does not represent the final boundaries of the state.
Supporters argue that splitting California in two would provide fairer and faster governance for areas outside the state's major cities.
Preston noted that the proposed state would share a border with Mexico to combat illegal immigration. Among his many grievances is California's crime problem, with voters set to recall San Francisco District Attorney in 2022 and Alameda County Prosecutor Pamela Price in November. . In Los Angeles County, voters ousted Attorney General George Gascon on Nov. 5 after just one term, with critics accusing him of being too lenient with criminals.
Voters also strongly rejected tough-on-crime Proposition 36 last month, despite efforts by state Democrats and Gov. Gavin Newsom to preserve a decade of criminal justice reform policies that critics say have enabled crime. It was approved.
“I don't think anyone would say California doesn't have aggression or domestic violence,” Preston said, citing crime and the influx of illegal immigrants into the state.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office and Democratic state Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. The California Democratic Party said no one was available for comment on the matter.
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California State Capitol in Sacramento (Justin Sullivan/Justin Sullivan)
In recent years, California has been criticized for its high cost of living, rampant homelessness despite spending billions of dollars to fix the problem, lenient criminal justice and sanctuary states that opponents say are contributing to crime. Policies have been criticized.
James Gallagher, the Republican leader in the state Legislature, said he didn't know specifically about New California's efforts but “completely understands.” But Gallagher said this divide is not necessarily between urban and rural areas, as well as coastal and inland communities.
“California often feels like it's two separate states,” he told FOX News Digital. “It feels like that hinterland has been completely forgotten by Gavin Newsom and the Democratic supermajority. None of the policies that come out of Sacramento are that burdensome to them (Democrats). ”
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Governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on September 25th. (Jason Almond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Gallagher cited as an example California-led electric vehicle regulations that would require all new cars sold in the state to be zero-emission models by 2035, which would hurt many rural residents. said.
Tina Hesson, 55, who lives in Yuba City, a few miles north of Sacramento, said California is actually more conservative than people believe in other parts of the country. She cited the Electoral College map for November's presidential election.
“The recent voting map and how red California actually is is a better representation of how I feel about the reality in California,” she told FOX News Digital. “We get all the representation because we are a red state and the big blue centers, Los Angeles and San Francisco, have large populations.”
Ellen Lee Chou, who grew up in China and once ran for mayor in San Francisco, said Democrats and Newsom have abandoned all common sense in favor of illegal immigrants over legal residents.
“What we've seen over the last 10 years is unbelievable homelessness, open drug trafficking, prostitution,” Zhou told Fox News Digital. “I can't explain what happened to the leader at all.”
Despite Vice President Kamala Harris winning the statewide popular vote with strong support from coastal areas, Mr. Trump won most of the counties, mainly in rural areas.
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Map showing California's 2024 presidential election results. President-elect Trump won in orange counties, while Vice President Kamala Harris won in blue counties, mostly along coastal and urban areas. (California Secretary of State)
After the Nov. 5 election, Newsom traveled to California's red counties and told voters that they “got the message.”
“I don't care who you voted for. I care about people. I care about Trump supporters, I care about RFK Jr., (Robert Kennedy Jr.) supporters. “I care about Tucker Carlson's supporters, I care about Charlie Kirk's supporters,” he said, “I care about Ben Shapiro's supporters, and I care about all people.” spoke during his stay.
“I care about the people who live here in the Sierra Nevada, the people in San Diego where I was right now, or the people in my backyard in Fair Oaks, California,” Newsom added.
Instead of improving the quality of life for residents, President Trump blamed Democratic policies that focused on “woke” ideology, leaving liberal cities infested with crime, overtaxed, and crumbling. and attacked liberal cities.
California has a long history of attempts to divide itself into smaller parts. Since 1850, when the state became the 31st state admitted to the Union, there have been more than 220 attempts to divide, trifurcate, or dissolve the state into six smaller states, according to the California State Library. It has been.
Most recently, billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper proposed splitting California into six states, but the proposal did not make it onto the 2016 ballot.
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Draper successfully got a measure on the 2018 ballot to split California into three states after collecting enough signatures from voters for the California 3 referendum. However, the state Supreme Court decided on July 18, 2018, to remove the question from the ballot because “serious questions have been raised regarding the validity of the proposal,” the library's website states. .
Other states have supported some succession efforts in the past.
In 2020, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said he would welcome neighboring Virginia's less fortunate rural counties to join his state.
Justice, a Republican, said at the time: “If you're not truly happy where you are, we'll support you with open arms to take you to Virginia or wherever you are.” “We strongly support the Second Amendment and we strongly support the unborn.”
The rural-urban divide has long been a part of politics. In November, Mr. Trump surprised many by winning some cities, suburbs and rural areas.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom and President-elect Trump (Getty/AP)
Despite growing support among Californians, Newsom has convened a special session amid efforts to “protect Trump” from potential federal interference in the Golden State, but has not cooperated with the incoming administration. Then he said.
“But when there are excesses, lives are threatened and rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action,” he said. “And that's exactly what this special session is about: setting this state up for success regardless of who is in the White House.”
Preston doesn't expect a separation to take place anytime soon, but given that the effort requires parliamentary approval, he believes a solution will eventually come.
“This is really a city versus country debate,” he says. “We've been received very well within Congress and even by the Democratic Party (during our trip to Washington). It's interesting to see people coming on board who are starting to realize what we're doing.” .
Hawaii became the last state admitted to the Union in 1959. Statehood efforts by Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have lacked sufficient support and have been fruitless in recent years.
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“I understand the argument,” Gallagher said of New California's efforts. “Maybe we should look at that. Maybe there should be two states.”
