A group called Calexit Now says the time is right for California to divorce the United States as Republicans take control of the presidency and Congress.
The group filed a petition with the state Attorney General’s Office on Nov. 19 to start the process of asking voters if they approve of secession. The movement spearheaded by California Department of Transportation analyst Marcus Evans said this was the “most ideal time in four decades.”
“Trump just got reelected, so we view this as the best time ever for Calexit,” Evans told The Epoch Times.
Calexit was created in the spirit of Britain’s successful Brexit movement in 2016 and Scotland’s independence referendum that was voted down in 2014, Evans said.
The group has floated the idea before. Most recently, after Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, about 43 percent of Californians polled supported it or were willing to discuss it, according to SurveyUSA polls, sponsored by CBS Bay Area, published at the time.
Eight years ago, most liberals in the state didn’t believe Trump really won the presidential election, Evans said.
The leader of Calexit’s last campaign, Louis Marinelli, abruptly withdrew the ballot petition in April 2017 and announced he had left the state to settle permanently in Russia because of his “disappointment and disillusionment with the United States.”
Democratic leaders at the time also pushed the idea of resistance instead of secession.
After the 2024 elections, the concept of separation is gaining some traction in the state, according to Evans.
“Liberals in California are saying, ‘I guess America really did select this guy,’” Evans said. “Now the message has completely changed for the first time in eight years. Now they recognize this is Trump’s America.”
Meanwhile, opponents like Hank Campbell, the founder of the nonprofit Science 2.0 and published writer, see problems with the idea.
“The problem for #CalExit progressives is that 80% of California’s geography (e.g. resources and food) want to secede from coastal progressives,” Campbell wrote on X Nov. 12.
Darel Paul, a professor of political science at Williams College in Massachusetts, said the last California secession failed largely because of a lack of a shared state identity.
“For all that Calexit talk back in the Trump era, one big reason it never went anywhere is that (today) only 48% of adult California residents are from California,” he posted on X in August. “Compare California to Scotland where 77% of adults are born in Scotland.”
California voters have also signaled a change in attitude toward Trump in the November election. Although officials are still counting ballots in the state, early results show Trump gaining about 4 percent more votes in the state compared with 2020. About 38 percent of the state voted for him in the November election, according to unofficial results on Nov. 20.
The idea to secede from the U.S. or from California has emerged several times before in different states and communities, but the process would be monumental.
“The [U.S.] Constitution makes no provision for secession,” according to an article published in 1860 by the Dubuque Herald just before the Civil War, and republished by the American Historical Association. “The Constitution of the United States provides that it may be amended, and prescribes how this may be done, but it does not ... contemplate its own destruction. ... Constitutionally, there can be no such thing as secession of a State from the Union.”
In 1869, following the Civil War, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White that the initial act admitting a state to the Union was final, according to the California Legislature’s Legislative Analyst’s Office. “There was no place for reconsideration, or revocation,” the court said in its decision, “except through revolution, or through consent of the states.”
Calexit also has a few hurdles to overcome before approaching the federal government about leaving, according to its evaluation.
First, the group hopes to get permission from the state to place a ballot initiative on the Nov. 5, 2026, ballot. The question for voters would be: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?”
At least 50 percent of registered voters will need to vote on the issue, with 55 percent or more in favor of it, according to a proposal sent to Attorney General Rob Bonta.
A demonstrator along El Camino Real in San Mateo, Calif., on Jan. 20, 2017, Donald Trump's first Inauguration Day. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
If that happens, the U.S. flag would be removed from public display at all California government buildings, including the State Capitol, and all public properties under the California state government. The California state flag would be put in its place, according to Calexit’s filing with the Attorney General’s Office.
Then, the state would create a racially diverse commission to evaluate and report on California’s sovereignty and independence.
The state would then choose a representative to present its secession case to Congress.
If a majority of representatives voted in favor of the plan, California would be officially able to break away, according to Calexit.
According to a study of the 2017 ballot initiative—conducted by the California Legislature’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office—any agreement with the United States to leave would have to be approved by California voters as a revision to the state Constitution by either a vote in the Legislature or a Constitutional Convention and voter approval.
Jill McLaughlin
Author
Jill McLaughlin is an award-winning journalist covering politics, environment, and statewide issues. She has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico. Jill was born in Yosemite National Park and enjoys the majestic outdoors, traveling, golfing, and hiking.
