Conservative voters in California’s rural areas are expressing growing frustration with the Democratic-controlled state government in Sacramento, citing overregulation, the rising cost of living, and policies they feel neglect their communities. Many of these residents are rallying around efforts to separate their regions from the urban areas that dominate state politics.
Paul Preston, founder of the New California State movement, aims to create a new state that represents rural Californians. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Preston said, “We recognized that we were in a tyranny,” pointing to what he sees as systemic political and economic disparities between the rural and urban areas of the state.
A former school administrator, Preston described California as a “one-party” state, likening its governance to a communist regime. He argued that many state laws fail to account for the needs and values of rural communities.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to tell California that we are free from invasion and we’re free from domestic violence,” Preston said.
The movement reflects broader discontent among conservative Californians, who often feel marginalized by the progressive policies enacted by the state Legislature. Proposals to split the state, though largely symbolic, highlight the cultural and political divide within the nation’s most populous state.
James Gallagher, the Republican leader in the state Assembly, said he “totally understood” the New California State effort.
“It often feels like there are two separate states in California,” he told Fox News Digital. “That inland portion feels completely forgotten by Gavin Newsom and the supermajority Democrats. All the policies that come out of Sacramento don’t really burden them (Democratic lawmakers).”
