Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher proposed splitting California by allowing its 35 rural or conservative inland counties to form a separate state. The proposed new state would include most of Northern California, the Sierra Nevada, Central Valley and Inland Empire and would contain roughly 10.5 million residents, ranking among the nation's top 10 by population. More than half of California's counties would join the breakaway, but they would represent about a quarter of the state's population. Gallagher framed the proposal as a reaction to Democrats' proposed partisan congressional maps, which he said would silence rural voices.
And the latest person to pitch the idea is Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, who on Wednesday, Aug. 27, floated the idea - however unlikely - of having the Golden State's 35 more rural or conservative inland counties break away from its generally more liberal coastal communities to form its own state. Gallagher's proposed map would split California in two, with the inland counties becoming the nation's 51st state.
The new state - whose name is yet to be determined - would encompass most of Northern California as well as the Sierra Nevada, Central Valley and Inland Empire, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties. RELATED: California Supreme Court again rejects Republicans' efforts to stop mid-cycle redistricting It would be made up of more than 10 million Californians, placing it among the top 10 most populous states in the nation, Gallagher said.
Although breaking off 35 of California's 58 counties would mean that over half the state's counties would secede, the approximately 10.5 million people who would be residents of the new state represent just a bit over a quarter of California's current total population. Gallagher's so-called "two-state solution" is a long-shot proposal that comes amid California Democrats' attempt to pass new partisan congressional maps to favor their own party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections - a response to similar gerrymandering efforts by Texas Republicans.
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