As Prop. 50 puts conservative representation in jeopardy, Shasta’s state-building movements are strategizing

December 12 will be a decisive day in California. That’s when the Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the final results of the state’s Prop. 50 special election. 

Recent polling shows that a slight majority of Californians — about 56% — are leaning toward voting yes. That would radically change the internal borders of the state’s congressional districts, likely disempowering conservative voters in California’s rural interior, including Shasta County. 

But attempts to reshape Golden State are by no means new, especially in both the Central Valley and the northernmost stretches of the state. A month before the territory of California was even admitted as a state in 1850, the Senate considered splitting it into a northern and southern portion — the latter of which would have been added as a territory of Colorado — rather than annexing it whole. 

In more recent times, there have been continued attempts to redraw state boundaries, including the Six California’s movement which hopes to partition California into six parts, and CalExit which proposes seceding from the United States entirely. 

Now with conservative political representation in jeopardy, some of these movements have called on their communities to mobilize, or at the very least, indicated that they see their causes as ever more justified. Shasta Scout reached out to the leadership behind three such movements: Assemblymember James Gallagher’s Two State Solution, as well as New California State (NCS), and the State of Jefferson, the last of which did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. 

Though the groups have taken different approaches to pursuing the statehood process, those who spoke with Shasta Scout shared some of the same sentiments, namely, that the majority of urban Democratic politicians in the Capitol overlook the needs of rural Californians.  

“It’s been a long time frustration, as you can see from the many different movements throughout California’s history,” Assemblymember Gallagher said over the phone last week, explaining the motivation behind his resolution to vertically bisect California, which he presented to the state legislature earlier this summer. His proposal came as a direct response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt at gerrymandering, which will impact many of Gallagher’s constituents in the Central Valley and up toward Red Bluff if successful.

Gallagher expounded on some of the material consequences that newly passed laws and mandates have had on Californians in the countryside: such as the state’s new low carbon fuel standard, which is likely to raise gas prices and has been criticized by environmentalists — despite the fact it incentivizes the transition toward electric vehicles.  

“There are no electric tractors, right? That technology is not there, nor is it feasible to charge them so…they run on diesel,” he said. 

More broadly, Gallager thinks of his partitioning plan as “a self-determination thing,” adding that he is opposed to partisan redistricting, including the move in Texas that provoked Prop. 50. Asked if he was in contact with other statebuilding movements in California putting forward alternative proposals — like Jefferson State or New California — Gallagher said he’s known the former for some time and that he’s “aware” of the latter. 

He also pointed out one operative difference between his Two State Solution — which he clarified, is not a reference to past negotiation processes between Palestine and Israel — and the New California State plan. Unlike NCS, Gallagher said that he is actively trying to work with the state of California to move his vision forward.

As Shasta Scout reported in July, New California has modeled its movement after the process by which West Virginia separated from the Virginia Commonwealth in the middle of the Civil War — opting to join the Union rather than remain part of the Confederacy. But unlike West Virginia, which sought approval from its mother state before splitting, New California is bypassing California’s state legislature entirely as it works towards statehood. 

Another difference between Gallagher’s and New California’s plan are the proposed maps for new state lines — with the NCS proposal ceding much less territory to coastal California. 

Appealing to the feds

“Well, [California] is in a very big pickle. I think what you’re actually witnessing is the collapse of the state governmental system,” NCS President Paul Preston said during an interview with Shasta Scout in early September.  

While New California shares the high level grievance of Prop. 50 with Gallagher and other California Republican lawmakers, Preston is more focused on appealing to President Trump, who he claims is “prepared to act” as the relationship between Trump and Newsom continues to deteriorate. 

“[California] is doing all the wrong things and playing right into Trump’s hand,” he said. “The President really needs to act by suspending habeas corpus and declaring an emergency in California, and basically a takeover is what he needs to do.” 

For unrelated other reasons, Trump has recently floated the idea of “surging” San Francisco with U.S. troops. He backed down after his friends who live in the area urged him not to, he said on his Truth Social account October 23. His change in plans also came two days after the state of California threatened to sue him if he deployed boots on the ground. On October 28, the president renewed his threat to send the soldiers to American cities without specifying which ones. 

Adding to political tension among California parties and between the state and the federal government, the Justice Department plans to dispatch election monitors to five California counties on Election Day.   

Aside from the procedural differences between NCS and Gallagher’s Two State plan, Preston also distinguished his movement from that of the State of Jefferson, which he disparaged at length. “We’ve seen nothing from Jefferson because they chose the wrong direction to go to,” Preston said, criticizing the movement’s past lawsuits against California as ineffective.

“They never established themselves like we established ourselves. They never declared independence. They never set up a legislature. They’ve never legislated,” Preston said, referencing the parallel civic system NCS has established outside of California law, which bears no acting power as far as the state is concerned. 

Of these three statehood plans, the State of Jefferson is the most historic. The movement began in Oregon in 1935, as a response to the state’s failure to develop adequate infrastructure in rural parts of the state. The brief rebellion was temporarily put to rest by the U.S. entering World War II, but some adherents continue to fly SOJ’s “XX” flag in Northern California and Southern Oregon and bumper stickers referencing the movement are common in the North State. 

Though SOJ leaders and spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for an interview over many weeks, media that was produced by their members, and reviewed by Shasta Scout, may shed light on the movement’s perspective on NCS and Prop. 50.

Shortly after NCS held an election for voters to approve a draft constitution earlier this summer, Jefferson activist Janet Chandler appeared on the podcast Jefferson State of Mine to discuss the NCS constitution, describing it as redundant and incomprehensible. 

“The entire constitution is way too wordy, and it sounds like it’s AI generated or cut and paste,” she said, also later taking issue with NCS’ definition of marriage as exclusively heterosexual. “Who gives the state the right to determine what marriage is?” she asked. While the movement has a strong conservative ethos, it’s also focused on resistance to state overreach. 

Weeks later on September 14, Assemblymember Gallagher appeared on an episode of the same podcast to discuss how Californians can mobilize at a grass roots level against redistricting. During the conversation, Jefferson leaders provided hints of how the SOJ movement is thinking about using this moment in history to push forward their goals of greater autonomy. 

“You know, Proposition 50, if it passes, it could be a real cluster,” host Terry Rapoza said. “But by the same token a lot of times, liberty has grown out of chaos.” 

Seizing on the current political moment, his cohost Win Carpenter added, “We’ve been [politically organizing] for a long time, and a lot of us throughout the territory of Jefferson have been doing this for a long time – and we just need to get the band back together, so to speak.”

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