There's a movement afoot in California. Frustrated by a lack of representation, feeling isolated, believing their views don't have a voice, they've decided the best proposal is separation.
No, this isn’t another effort led by Gov. Gavin Newsom to thwart President Trump.
This is California Republicans wanting to break up with the state of California.
California’s Legislature recently approved holding a special election to vote on a temporary partisan redistricting to counter Texas' gerrymandering efforts. California Republicans are understandably frustrated (as Texas Democrats have been.) Many of the nine Republicans in California’s delegation could potentially lose their seats in Congress.
Sadly, most of those Congressional leaders didn’t speak out against the Texas GOP’s gerrymandering push, nor other efforts brewing in states like Missouri. Instead, local Republicans in California have a different idea: A breakup.
Championed by Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher there’s a new map in town. One that, to be clear, has a zero chance of passing. Instead of one California, in Gallagher’s world we would have two states. One a slender blue coastal state, the other a fatter, less populated red inland state. Gallagher, who represents an area just north of the state’s capital Sacramento, introduced Assembly Joint Resolution 23 (AJR 23) recently to create a new state from 35 inland counties, including Northern California, the Sierra Nevada, the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, and Imperial County.
The irony of getting frustrated when things aren't going your way is, well, not lost on me. Gallagher calls it a "two-state solution," as if that phrase has a happy history elsewhere. If that’s not enough, he evoked Moses and the Israelites when announced his proposal.
"Gavin, let my people go," he declared.
This isn't the first time California has entertained this idea.
From Jefferson State to VC Fever Dreams
People have tried to divide California before. In fact there have been more than 200 efforts to do so.
The most famous attempt was the “Jefferson State” movement in 1941, which even today still lingers in parts of the state. An Oregon Mayor and a San Francisco Chronicle reporter orchestrated a rebellion where a portion of both states would try to divide into their own.
The San Francisco Chronicle reporter named Stanton Delaplane later admitted he had been part of the effort, writing a “proclamation of independence, that they set highway roadblocks and gave instructions to armed locals to hold traffic. For about 10 days they declared themselves an independent state before it fell apart, just after Pearl Harbor was bombed.
More recently, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper launched multiple division efforts: "Six Californias" in 2013 (which failed to get enough signatures) and "Cal 3" in 2017, which would have divided California into three states. Cal 3 actually qualified for the November 2018 ballot as Proposition 9, but the California Supreme Court pulled it from the ballot for constitutional review in July 2018, and Draper eventually withdrew it.
The Math of Representation
The representation disparity Gallagher cites is legitimate. California is underrepresented without a doubt when it comes to Senate power.
California has 39.5 million residents. That means each of its two senators represent about 19.8 million people. Wyoming, with fewer than 600,000 people, has one senator for every 289,000 people. Wyoming residents have roughly 68 times more proportional power in the Senate than Californians.
That brings us back to just the latest plan of California Republicans. Under Gallagher's plan, the proposed inland state would still have more than 10 million people, making it one of the nation's 10 most populous states, while the coastal state would retain about 29.5 million residents, making it only a tad smaller than Texas.
Let’s be clear, though. Gallagher’s effort is not a part of some earnest movement to improve proportional representation in the U.S. Senate. It’s just another flimsy, partisan proposal to try and draw attention and complain without actually solving a problem.
The Power of Unity
California is currently leading the resistance to many federal policies. Gov. Gavin Newsom has challenged the White House on tariffs, National Guard deployment, and immigration enforcement.
This political leverage stems directly from the state's economic clout; its power comes because it is a unified state.
California remains the largest contributor to U.S. manufacturing — both in output and employment. Despite manufacturing jobs dropping from around 15% to 7% over the last 30 years, manufacturing output has increased by more than 70% driven by productivity gains in high-tech and durable goods manufacturing. The state accounts for more than 15% of all aerospace manufacturing jobs and more than a quarter of all IT and analytical product manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
This economic weight gives California the resources and credibility to stand up to federal overreach, and hold its own, hosting foreign leaders and delegations that pay particular attention to California. Divide the state, and you fragment this power.
Why Unity Matters More
The timing of all our internal battles come at another time where geopolitically there’s turmoil.
This week, China's Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un, and India's Narendra Modi are meeting in China at a summit specifically designed to counterbalance American values like freedom, economic mobility, and democratic representation.
Just as California's power comes from keeping its economic engines unified, America's global influence depends on states like California working together with the rest of the nation rather than splintering apart. Our adversaries would celebrate nothing more than watching America's most economically productive state split itself in half.
Yes, we're all frustrated about representation. Texas Democrats feel underrepresented after gerrymandering. California Republicans will feel the same if new districts pass.
But 220 (and counting) failed attempts to divide California since 1850 should tell us this isn’t really the solution.
Instead of pursuing separation fantasies that weaken us all, we should channel that shared desire for better representation into actually coming together to find solutions, with the strength that unity provides.
I suppose that's too much to ask of some including James Gallagher. But then he's far from the first with this separation fantasy.
None have succeeded. And for good reason.
Nice job, Johanna. I recall efforts in the '50s to split California into North and South. The issue then was water. Populous SoCal voting to take water fom the North.
The issues have shifted a bit. Now, the conservative rancher, farmer, country dweller is angry with the city-folk for passing laws that don't consider the needs of rural folks.
As an example: wolves. The ranchers of Northeastern CA are under siege by wolves. More than 60 cattle have been killed by wolves in the last 4 months. The state, whose wildlife and biological knowledge comes from anthropomorphized Disney movies, gives lip service only, in the secure knowledge that the killing of a wolf by any state agency would cause riots in San Francisco. The state has a fund to reimburse ranchers for livestock lost to carnivorous but protected species. This year's funding has been used up and "Winter is coming."
I think it might make an interesting essay.