The time has come for Jefferson to be #51!  It’s time for the rights of we the people to be restored.  The coastal urban repression and oppression of the economic freedom, individual rights, and religious liberty of inland rural citizens has gone on for far too long.  We have a beautiful area that we love and are not giving up on.  We have largely gone our own way during the Pandemic and have suffered less economic damage than the rest of the state as we have largely finally been mostly left on our own and haven’t really obeyed many mandates so our unemployment mirrors the National rather than the state number.  It’s time the rest of the state listen to and care about the needs of more rural inland California or let us go.  

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Rural Californians are fighting to reclaim their state, even if that means starting their own

REDDING, California — Mark Baird is a third-generation Californian who hopes to one day be a first-generation Jeffersonian.

Baird, like many in California 's sprawling, mostly rural north, is disillusioned with his state's Sacramento-based government, which he believes no longer represents northern interests.

That's why Baird and many others in the 23 counties above Sacramento have officially declared the reclamation of their state, even if it means breaking away and starting anew in the proposed 51st state of Jefferson, named for the third U.S. president.

"People are basically hopeless here," said Baird, who lives in Siskiyou County. "We’ve gone from being economically viable and net contributors to the general fund to being what the rest of California jokingly refer to as the 'welfare counties.' But, we weren’t the welfare counties. We were made the welfare counties by the state of California."

Baird and others in the northern and eastern parts of the state say they have little in common with the overtly liberal central and southern parts of the state.

A lot of them work with their hands, express skepticism about government overreach, and are fiercely protective of their Second Amendment rights. It's a far cry from Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

"Most people up here are conservative, Christian, patriotic people," said Woody Clendenen, a local barbershop owner in Cottonwood who has defied state lockdown measures by keeping his shop open throughout the pandemic.

Many northerners feel overshadowed by the needs and influence of California’s populous coastal cities, which control most of the state legislature.

An 1862 state law limited the number of lawmakers in California's statehouse to 120. Back then, the Golden State was home to less than 1 million people. Today, California is made up of roughly 40 million people, but there are still only 80 assembly members and 40 senators in the legislature.

That gives each assembly member almost 500,000 people to serve and every state senator nearly 1 million constituents.

The Los Angeles area encompasses more than 20 of those seats. San Diego and the Bay Area make up around another quarter, and about half of state representation lies mostly from the L.A. County line and south.

The northern counties that would make up Jefferson, home to about 1.7 million residents, have less than a handful of representatives.

That’s nowhere near enough, says Baird, who is recognized by some as the founder of the modern-day "State of Jefferson" movement.

When locals first started seriously campaigning for Jefferson a few years ago, people made calls to a handful of lawmakers a day, sent thousands of emails, and made personal visits down to the Capitol. For nearly a year, Baird called every single lawmaker in Sacramento on a daily basis.

“Not a single legislator, not even the ones who represent us, made one single phone call to find out what we wanted, or why we wanted it,” Baird said. “That just kind of confirmed in our minds that we didn’t have any representation.”

The 51st state of Jefferson is the dream that never died

The movement to carve a new state out of California goes back to the World War II era when it was championed, then put on the back burner after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Back then, northern Californians joined with their brethren in southern Oregon, united by a sentiment that they lacked representation in their statehouses.

Before Alaska and Hawaii became a part of the United States, Jefferson, which would be comprised of the rural Pacific Northwest, was proposed to be the 49th state. Its flag symbolizes two X's to stand for being "double-crossed" by the state governments of Oregon and California.

Today, Jefferson is largely a regional identity, but the goals of today's movement remain the same. Supporters want more representation in their state government and a pathway to retrieving individual rights they feel have been infringed upon by overwhelming urban interests.

Lisa Pruitt, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who has focused on issues related to the rural-urban divide, said the State of Jefferson has also begun creeping south toward the Sierra Nevada foothills, away from its traditional northern territories.

Patrick Jones, the former mayor of Redding who runs a local gun shop in the city, said he believes the Jefferson movement has gained more momentum in recent years because of what many say are the erosion of rights related to the First and Second amendments and government that's grown unwieldy and unresponsive.

“Our freedoms are being taken every year, and we’re not ever going to get them back,” Jones said. “That’s why the state of Jefferson movement is alive today, and the most active it’s ever been.”

Since California achieved statehood in 1850, there have been some 200 attempts to break up the state. In recent years, there's been other ideas floated to break up or split off the state, such as Calexit, also sometimes called Yes California, which sought to give the state independence from the United States. Other groups, such as Keep It California, formed to oppose the Jefferson movement.

Janet Chandler, of Burney, argues that Jefferson is the only movement that addresses the need for more representation and says it has been misinterpreted as a movement that is trying to become a second California.

“Jefferson is not trying to divide the state into parts. Jefferson has the declared counties, and our goal is to form our own state,” Chandler said. “This isn’t some wild and crazy idea. It’s covered in the federal Constitution.”

Jefferson supporters often point back to Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution, which says a state may split up with the approval of its own legislature and the U.S. Congress.

It's unlikely to happen, but Jones said there's a principle involved.

"Whether it happens or not isn’t the point," he said. "The point is, you can’t affect a change if you don’t try, so they’re doing what they can even though we know it's a considerable long shot."

Jefferson used to have a powerful voice in the state Legislature in recent decades under the late Assemblyman Stan Statham, who was a vocal advocate for the northern split-off. In the early 1990s, the Redding Republican proposed letting people vote on a referendum in each county that would split California into three parts, divided by the northern, central, and southern regions. The proposal passed in the assembly but died in the Senate.

But, some say the state’s become too dominated by one-party rule under the Democratic Party, and politicians who have become too used to having power over people, instead of the other way around.

“We can’t get any traction whatsoever in Sacramento because liberals don’t want to give up any power, and splitting the state would certainly be giving up power,” said Hildy Langewis, who calls herself a "lapsed Californian" after leaving for Idaho about a year ago. “Most of them support it off the record, but they’re not going to throw their hat in the ring because politically, that would do damage to them.”

Hopeful Jeffersonians have kept fighting, even taking their grievances to court a few years ago against then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who has now replaced Vice President Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate.

Terry Rapoza, a longtime Jefferson advocate from Redding, said some view the statehood movement as rural rebellion, but he disagrees with that assessment, asserting that it's about reclaiming the rights owed to them.

“It’s not a revolution. It’s a restoration,” Rapoza said. “If you’re going to stand for liberty, you’re going to stand for your rights. You’re going to stand for a position of retaining or regaining your rights.”

Californians in exile

Langewis grew up in Paradise but lost her home in the fire that destroyed her hometown a couple of years ago.

She spent a brief period in Nevada City by the Sierra Nevada foothills in northern California, but her insurance from the fire wasn’t enough to cover the cost of living. Langewis fled to Idaho, which she describes as being like the California she knew growing up.

"It’s like how California was about 50 years ago," Langewis said. "Very rural, independent, small towns are self-sufficient. Small businesses seem to be thriving. People fend for themselves."

Though Langewis left her home state, she still supports Jefferson from afar, selling merchandise online and occasionally returning to promote the movement at gun shows.

“I’m still supportive of a state split,” Langewis said. “It would be nice to move back if I could afford to, but right now, that’s not in the cards.”

In half a decade, California has ranked as one of the top 10 states that people are moving from. A state report showed the population between July 2019 to July 2020 grew only .05%, a record low state population growth rate in more than a century.

Gov. Gavin Newsom defended claims that there's a mass exodus from the state, citing California's leadership in innovation and its high ranks among states' happiness index.

The governor, who may face a recall election largely tied to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, asked people to consider the benefits California had prior to the pandemic's challenges before they make the decision to leave.

But, Jones said it’s not enough to ask people to stay, and state leaders need to look at the elements driving people out, which he cites as high taxes, loss of freedom, and excessive laws.

Jones said the coronavirus lockdowns are prompting even more Californians to flee, especially in areas where people can’t afford not to work or have to adjust their businesses to open only when the state says it’s safe.

“Here you have to work hard for a little, and so to shut these businesses down, they’re not going to make it,” Jones said. “They can’t do it, so folks are having to leave to other places where they’re allowed to at least have their businesses open.”

Many up north also have long generational ties to the state going back to the gold rush, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl, when people migrated to chase the "California Dream" of prosperity and opportunity.

Those legacies and family ties make it harder for some people to consider leaving, but most also want to stay for the landscape, the climate, and don't like the idea of being forced out of the communities they grew up in.

“Where are we going to go?” asked Win Carpenter, who hosts a weekly podcast with Rapoza, dubbed the Jefferson State of Mine . “I don’t want to live in Texas. They don’t have the mountains and trees that we do. We like it here. I’m seventh generation here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Baird feels the same, and that’s why for many, the idea of Jefferson one day becoming a reality is the hope that keeps people tethered to the Golden State.

“All you can do is try to find your peace and go to Idaho, or you can stay and fight like some of us are,” Baird said.