Economic Woes, High Costs Fuel GOP’s Bold New Push to Divide California

by Dave Mason

Republicans are calling for 35 inland counties to secede from California and create a new state.

The GOP announced the plan Wednesday as their response to Democrats’ congressional redistricting efforts.

“I want to take a step back from all of the chaos we had and talk about the forgotten people of California,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher said, presenting a map during a news conference in Sacramento.

Gallagher and his co-authors are proposing Assembly Joint Resolution 23, also known as “The Two State Solution.” It would allow the creation of the state under Article, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution and would require approval by the state Assembly and Senate as well as Congress. Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, meaning Republicans would have to sway a number of Democrats to back it.

Gallagher said a new state would benefit inland residents who feel they’re victims of the policies of the Democrats controlling the state legislative and executive branches.

“I think this is about the trucker in the Inland Empire who is told he has to get rid of his truck because of the regulations in this state,” the minority leader said.

“I think of the single mom who’s trying to get by when the rent’s too high and gets her PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) bill, which once again is increased, and struggles to get into that first house because costs are way too high,” Gallagher said.

He said he was thinking of ranchers whose cattle are killed “because some genius thought it was a good idea to reintroduce the gray wolf in Northern California.”

It’s time to secede from California because of a Legislature that has done nothing to make the state more affordable, Gallagher said, accusing the Democratic supermajorities in the two houses of not caring about Californians.

Proposition 50, which would draw new congressional district boundaries to give Democrats five more U.S. House seats to counter five Republican seats being gained by Texas redistricting, would completely strip people in inland counties of their representation, Gallagher said. The Senate and Assembly voted last week to put the proposition on the Nov. 4 ballot in a special election.

“Whether you are from the North State, Central Valley or the Inland Empire, life has become harder and completely unaffordable,” Gallagher said. “We have been overlooked for far too long, and now they are trying to rip away what little representation we have left.”

The new state would consist of 10 million people, according to Gallagher’s office. It would cover most of Northern California, the Sierra Nevada, the Central Valley and the Inland Empire.

The proposal would leave counties along the coast in California. The new state would consist of a big north-to-south block of Inland counties, varying from Siskiyou, Modoc and Del Norte along the Oregon border to Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial in Southern California.

Gallagher said he realizes there are people in heavily Republican Orange County, which would remain in California under the current proposal, who would like to be a new state.

“Orange County, I hear you,” Gallagher said, stressing the map isn’t set in a stone and that some communities in the current proposal might not want to be in a new state.

Gallagher’s proposed resolution noted there have been “difficulties in achieving equitable political representation” and that efforts to divide California go back to 1859 when voters overwhelmingly supported splitting the state into two. “However, Congress did not act on this proposal due to the Civil War.”

The resolution said several Northern California counties, along with voters from other counties, have expressed a desire to form a new state. It said residents in Northern California and Inland areas have long felt frustration over laws and regulations imposed on them by the more populous coastal regions.

Republican co-authors of Gallagher’s resolution are Assemblymembers Leticia Castillo, Heather Hadwick, Tom Lackey, Alexandra Macedo, Joe Patterson and Kate Sanchez. Sen. Megan Dahle is the co-author in the Senate.

The United States hasn’t admitted a new state since 1959, when Alaska became the 49th state on January 3 and Hawaii followed on August 21. Previous efforts to subdivide California date back over a century. In 1941, state senator Randolph Collier led a push to create the “State of Jefferson,” which would have split several northern counties from California. The initiative collapsed almost immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor shifted national attention, and the movement was shelved as the country focused on the war effort.

In more recent decades, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper proposed dividing California into multiple states. His 2013 “Six Californias” initiative aimed to create six separate entities – Jefferson, North California, Silicon Valley, Central California, West California, and South California – but failed to qualify for the 2016 ballot due to insufficient signatures. Draper also launched the “Cal 3” initiative in 2017, which sought to split California into three states. That measure qualified for the 2018 ballot but was removed by the California Supreme Court due to constitutional concerns.

Another approach has been quietly advancing through grassroots efforts over the last decade, using local resolutions in multiple counties to build support for a potential new state. Proponents argue these measures reflect persistent frustration among inland and northern residents who feel their interests are overlooked by policies driven by coastal population centers.

Today’s proposal comes amid continuing economic strain and a demographic exodus. Between 2020 and 2024, California saw a net domestic migration loss of approximately 1.46 million residents, even as the state absorbed 934,000 international migrants. Over the 2010s, more than 6.2 million people left while only 4.9 million moved in, producing a net loss of roughly 1.3 million. Although state estimates show modest growth in 2023 – around 67,000 residents – the outflow continues, driven largely by high housing costs, taxes, and a challenging cost-of-living landscape.

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Dave Mason is a regional editor at The Center Square. Christina Botteri, Executive Editor at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network, contributed to this report.
Image “State Rep James Gallagher” by State Rep. James Gallagher.

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