Rural voters in California have had it with the Democratic majority in Sacramento and are pushing their communities to separate from the blue urban areas that dominate state politics.
Conservative residents of California’s rural areas are fed up with over-regulation, the high cost of living and the myriad of policies coming out of the state’s Democratic-dominated Legislature, said Paul Preston, who founded New California in hopes of eliminating to split from its current state. At home.
“We recognized that we were in 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 partyA state that is similar to a communist regime by passing laws that do not take into account the rural class.
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A proposed map showing the state of New California. (State of New California)
Under the proposed map, the state of New California would include nearly all of California’s 58 counties, excluding most of Los Angeles County and parts of Sacramento County, San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area. The map is purely a proposal and does not represent the final state boundaries, Preston said.
Supporters argue that splitting California in half would provide fairer and more responsive government to areas outside the state’s major cities.
Preston noted that the proposed state would border Mexico in an effort to combat illegal immigration. Among his many grievances are California’s crime problems, which prompted voters to recall San Francisco’s district attorney in 2022 and Alameda County DA Pamela Price in November. In Los Angeles County, voters on Nov. 5 ousted DA George Gascon after just one term, as critics accused him of being too lenient on criminals.
Voters also forcefully passed the 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 enabled criminals.
“I don’t think anyone is going to tell California that we are free from invasions and we are free from domestic violence,” Preston said. cite crime and the flow of illegal migrants into the state.
Fox News Digital has contacted the office of Newsom and state Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Democrat. The Democratic Party of California said no one was available to comment on the matter.
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The California Capitol in Sacramento (Justin Sullivan/Justin Sullivan)
In recent years, California has been criticized for its high cost of living, homelessness epidemic — despite spending billions to address the problem — and lenient criminal justice and sanctuary state policies that opponents say contribute to crime.
James Gallagher, the Republican leader in the State Assembly, said he was not specifically aware of New California’s efforts but said, “I completely understand.” However, Gallagher said the divide is not necessarily between urban and rural areas, but rather between coastal areas and inland communities.
“It often feels like there are two separate states in California,” he told Fox News Digital. “That inland part feels completely forgotten by Gavin Newsom and the… Democrats with a supermajority. All the policies coming out of Sacramento don’t really burden them (Democratic lawmakers).”
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Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference on September 25. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
As an example, Gallagher cited California-led electric vehicle mandates that require all new car sales in the state to be zero-emission models by 2035, which he said would hurt many rural residents.
Tina Hessong, 55, who lives in Yuba City, a few miles north of Sacramento, said California is actually more conservative than what the rest of the country is led to believe. She cited the Electoral College map of the November presidential election.
“The map that came out of the recent vote and how red the state of California really is is more representative of what I think the reality of the state of California is,” she told Fox News Digital. “We are a red state and the big blue centers – Los Angeles and San Francisco – get all the representation because they have the larger populations.”
Ellen Lee Zhou, who grew up in China and is running for mayor of San Francisco, said Democratic lawmakers and Newsom have prioritized illegal immigrants over legal residents and abandoned all common sense.
“What we have seen in the last decade is unbelievable with homelessness, open drug dealing and prostitution,” Zhou told Fox News Digital. “I just can’t explain what happened to the leadership.”
Despite vice president Kamala Harris By winning the statewide popular vote, with heavy support from coastal areas, Trump captured the most counties, mainly in rural areas.
The map showing the results of the 2024 presidential election in California. President-elect Trump won the orange-colored counties and Vice President Kamala Harris took the blue-colored counties, especially along the coast and urban areas. (California Secretary of State)
After the Nov. 5 election, Newsom visited California’s red counties, where he told voters, “Message received.”
“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 supporters, I care about Charlie Kirk’s supporters “I care about Ben Shapiro’s supporters, I care about all people,” he said during one of his stops.
“I care about the people who live here, in the Sierras, the people out there San Diegowhere I just was, or my backyard in Fair Oaks, California,” Newsom added.
Trump has attacked liberal cities, saying they are crime-ridden, overburdened and falling apart because of Democratic policies that focus on “woke” ideology rather than improving residents’ quality of life.
California has a long history of trying to break itself up into smaller pieces. Since 1850, when it became the 31st state admitted to the union, there have been more than 220 attempts to divide, divide or break it up into six smaller states, according to the California State Library.
More recently, billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper proposed an initiative to split California into six states, but the proposal did not qualify for the 2016 ballot.
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In 2018, Draper succeeded in securing a measure to divide California into three states on the 2018 ballot after the “Cal 3” referendum gathered enough signatures from voters. However, the state Supreme Court decided on July 18, 2018 to remove the question from the ballot “because significant questions have been raised about the validity of the proposal,” according to the library’s website.
Other states have also supported some form of succession in the past.
In 2020, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said hapless rural counties in neighboring Virginia were more than welcome to join his state.
“If you’re not really happy where you are, we’re open arms to get you out of Virginia or wherever,” Justice, a Republican, said at the time. “We stand strongly for the Second Amendment, and we stand strongly for the unborn.”
The divide between city and countryside has long been part of politics. In November, Trump made some gains in urban, suburban and rural areas, surprising many.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom and President-elect Trump (Getty/AP)
Despite its increased support among Californians, Newsom called a special session amid efforts to “protect” the Golden State from possible federal interference but said he would work with the new administration.
“But when there is an overreach, when lives are threatened, when 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, no matter who’s in the White House.”
While Preston doesn’t expect a divorce right away, he believes there will be an opening as the effort would require the Legislature’s blessing.
“This is really an urban-rural debate,” he said. “We’ve been very well received in Congress (during visits to Washington), even by Democrats. It’s interesting that people who are starting to see what we’re doing are also supporting it.”
Hawaii was the last state to be admitted to the union in 1959 Puerto Rico and Washington DC have fallen short in recent years after not receiving enough support.
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“I understand the discussion,” Gallagher said of the New California effort. “I think maybe we should look into it. Maybe there should be two states.’
