Should California get a divorce? New idea splits liberal coast, conservative inland | Opinion

Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to say that if California was its own nation, it would be the world’s fourth largest economy.

I was interested to learn there is a new campaign under way to create just that — at least for part of the state.

The YesCalifornia Independence Campaign is an ideologically driven effort to split the state in two. Rather than divide into northern and southern halves, as has been periodically talked about over the years, this campaign proposes to split off 22 of California’s coastal counties. Under the concept, they would form a new country, the Republic of California. The remaining counties, almost all inland, would stay as the state of California and be part of the United States.

The 22 Republic counties range from Humboldt in the north to Los Angeles in the south. They include the Bay Area and Sacramento County, home of the current capital. Most importantly to organizers, they are “where some of the most extreme left-wing political ideas are born.”

The inland counties go from the Oregon border to Mexico. Also included are the coastal counties of San Diego and Del Norte.

The prime mover behind this nascent effort is Louis Marinelli, a self-described right-wing activist. He believes the coastal counties’ liberal, progressive politics have no common bond with the other areas of California, or even the rest of America.

Hence, a divorce is not only warranted, but in all parties’ interests, Marinelli contends.

“This idea is about trying to get the extreme, far-left liberals and progressives who are ruining the country as a whole, to go and build a progressive utopia of their own on the Pacific coast, and leave us out of it,” Marinelli explained in an interview with the California Liberty Project, a blog that promotes conservative ideas.

Even though Orange, San Diego and Del Norte counties are coastal, they have historically been conservative politically and thus have common ground with the inland parts of California.

Marinelli admitted no map will be perfectly organized. He recognizes that San Luis Obispo County, for example, has a healthy share of conservative voters. But keeping the 22 counties contiguous was important, so SLO County was put in the Republic of California.

Key stats

There are other challenges with YesCalifornia’s plan.

For one thing, the Republic of California would have more people — 22.6 million — and a bigger economy. The sum of all goods and services produced is estimated at $2.21 trillion. This is only natural, given that the population of Los Angeles County would be in the Republic, as would the economic powerhouses of Silicon Valley, Hollywood and coastal tourism.

The state of California, by comparison, would have 16.4 million people and a gross domestic product of $1.5 trillion. Its economy would be powered by agriculture, the logistics industry in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and national park tourism — the state would retain Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Lake Tahoe.

Marinelli assumes Sacramento would remain the capital for the Republic. For the state of California, he would leave its citizens to pick a capital city. San Diego would be the most populous, but its location at the southern border makes it inconvenient for anyone else.

How about Fresno as a state capital? The central location would be ideal.

Voter approval seems unlikely

Before any of this becomes reality, YesCalifornia has to qualify its plan on the ballot. Marinelli said he is pushing for an amendment to the California Constitution, and would want it on the November ballot in 2024, which is also the next presidential election, thus ensuring better voter turnout.

Leading Democrats like Newsom will likely argue against dividing the state. Marinelli believes liberals would have reasons to back his idea, however, if a Republican wins back the White House in 2024 and the U.S. Senate flips to the GOP. The House is already in Republican control.

Another benefit that he sees: Northern California’s State of Jefferson adherents — farmers, ranchers and right-leaning politicians who think Sacramento has failed their region — would not have to carve out their own space once the “liberal coastal elites” are removed.

I reached out to Marinelli to learn more about him and the campaign, but he did not reply. He has had a colorful past, including being linked to a Russian who was later indicted by federal authorities on charges of targeting political groups in Florida, Georgia and California “to further Russian interests.” Marinelli told The Sacramento Bee in a 2022 story that he is “not and never was an illegal agent of the Russian government tasked with sowing discord in the United States.”

The YesCalifornia website says the campaign hopes to gather 857,310 signatures of Californians to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

Many conservatives in the San Joaquin Valley would love for coastal counties to split off and go their merry way. The idea does fit a conservative talking point at the moment — that there should be a divorce between Republican red states and Democrat blue ones.

Leaving national politics aside, my take on the proposed California divorce: Breaking up would wreck what I love most about this state, namely, the diversity of its parts making up an incredible whole. No other state has the range of variety within its borders that California has, be it environmental, geographical, economic or cultural.

Can conservatives co-exist with liberals? Marinelli suggests the answer is no. But my bet is we can all be better than that — together.

This story was updated with information about Marinelli and a Russian national he once was involved with.