They’ve had enough.
A campaign to separate and create new states seems to be gaining momentum in a number of rural counties across deep blue states like California and Illinois after the election on November 5.
While conservative rural citizens watch their colleagues depart for red states with lower taxes and less regulation, many are prepared to stay there and long for a respite from the urban areas of their state.
In addition to promoting plans to leave Illinois without moving, the New Illinois State has created a new constitution. On election day, seven Illinois rural counties decided to think about seceding from the state.
Phil Gioja, a resident of Iroquois County, told the Wall Street Journal, “I think a lot of people in Chicago make a lot of decisions that affect people downstate.”
“Hey, you know, there are people who would like to be part of the conversation and often aren’t,” is all that is being said.
About 73% of voters in Iroquois County were in favor of combining with other Illinois counties—aside from Cook County, which encompasses Chicago—to create a new state. About 40% of Illinois’s population lives in Chicago.
Some proponents of a rural divorce think that an opportunity will present itself, even if Gioja does not see a divorce occurring anytime soon.
According to G.H. Merritt, chair of New Illinois State, “we always thought that our best opportunity to negotiate our way out of Illinois was when Illinois was approaching that financial cliff; it’s been on a path toward it for years,” the outlet reported.
In California, a similar movement has also gaining momentum. The counties outside of the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Los Angeles will be divided, according to the New California State organization.
Paul Preston, the founder of New California State, told the Wall Street Journal, “I’m so flipping excited.”
According to Preston, the Golden State is a one-party communist state that has already officially broken away from the Union.
However, he and similar movements have a difficult road ahead of them. They would require the approval of state legislatures in order to become a state, which is challenging to obtain from the states they wish to split off.
The final state to be officially admitted to the US was Hawaii. Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, have attempted to become states, but none of their attempts have gained any traction.
California Governor Gavin Newsom visited red counties after the election on November 5th and informed people, “Message received.”
Who you voted for doesn’t matter to me. Supporters of Trump, Robert Kennedy Jr., Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, and everyone else are important to Newsom, he said during one of his appearances.
In order to allow rural counties outside of the Cascade mountain range to join its conservative neighbor Idaho, the Greater Idaho movement in Oregon is working to redraw state lines.
Executive director of Greater Idaho Matt McCaw told the publication, “The State of Oregon has said we’re not going to talk about it and are basically holding people in Eastern Oregon captive against our wishes.”
In 2021, three Maryland counties—Garrison, Allegany, and Washington—took part in a similar movement after requesting to join West Virginia and receiving backing from Governor Jim Justice (R). Neither county has made the transition.
Domestic politics have long been impacted by the urban-rural split. In rural areas, President-elect Donald Trump held a considerable edge over Vice President Kamala Harris.
In addition to weakening the Democrats’ long-standing hold on metropolitan areas, Trump, 78, was able to drastically reduce the margins in states that are typically blue in comparison to the 2020 race.
The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president attacked liberal-run cities during his campaign, saying they were overburdened, rife with crime, and in disarray.
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