The top Republican in the California State Assembly, Assemblyman James Gallagher, has introduced a bill (AJR-23) proposing to split California into two new states — a liberal coastal state and a conservative inland state — as a response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting efforts. Gallagher argues that this plan would address concerns that Newsom’s redistricting is diminishing the political power of inland regions. The resolution, which responds to Sacramento’s attempt to permanently redraw California’s congressional maps, is framed as a ‘two-state solution’ — a term more commonly associated with territorial disputes in the Middle East — to counter Newsom’s strategy. Gallagher claims the plan would silence rural voices and ‘rig the political system forever’ if the current redistricting approach is allowed to proceed.
The coastal state would include major left-leaning communities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley, while the inland state would encompass areas like Kern County, where former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hails from. The proposal has drawn significant attention, with Gallagher set to hold a press conference to further discuss his plan. The plan would split the state along county lines generally slightly west of Interstate 5, which runs the 800-mile height of the state. According to the Manteca Bulletin, the 17 coastal counties would create a state of 29.5 million people, while the inland state would be home to 10 million.
Gallagher has lambasted what he calls Newsom’s ‘mid-decade power grab’ as a ‘mockery of democracy.’ ‘Don’t p— on my boots and tell me it’s raining. These are rigged maps, drawn in secret to give Democrat politicians more power by dismantling the independent commission Californians created to keep them out of map-drawing,’ he said. His comments came after Newsom approved the Democrats’ plan to place a resolution on the November ballot allowing the state to circumvent its semi-independent redistricting board. Gallagher’s home county – Sutter, located north of Sacramento – would fall in the new conservative inland state. This would also include right-leaning Truckee and Kern County, where McCarthy is from. San Bernardino, Riverside, and Imperial counties – which today make up what is similarly called the ‘Inland Empire’ – would also fall in the new state.
While the political power of California’s overall current landmass would be diminished, the new ‘Inland’ California would become one of the largest states by population in the nation, and reliably right-leaning. Texas would become the nation’s most populous state, edging out Coastal California by about 1.5 million, while Inland California would become the 11th most populous state – fitting in between Michigan and New Jersey. State Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, is the top Republican on the elections committee. Niello said earlier this month that Democrats only recently found interest in redistricting – sharing several examples of liberal lawmakers verbally opposing redistricting as recently as July. ‘In just a few weeks, a mysterious case of collective and selective amnesia seems to have set in. Let’s rewind the tape and hear them in their own words,’ Niello said.