Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher is behind a long-shot effort to split California into two separate states.
He now thinks Orange County should be added to the new proposed state, comprised mostly of inland counties.
Gallagher floated his California split proposal two weeks ago, amid legislative Democrats’ efforts to advance a mid-cycle congressional redistricting proposal. Voters in November, in a special election, will decide whether to enact partisan maps for the next three congressional elections — a move proponents say is meant to counter similar gerrymandering efforts in Republican-led states, including Texas and Missouri.
Gallagher’s original plan kept all of California’s coastal counties, except Del Norte, in one state with the others in a second state.
In an X post on Wednesday, the Assembly GOP leader said he thinks Orange County should move into that inland state.
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“In addition to being an iconic California county, Orange would be so severely (gerrymandered) under Prop. 50 that they would lose representation to L.A.,” Gallagher, R-East Nicolaus, said in a post on X. “We cannot allow that to happen! They deserve representation that is true to their communities and interests.”
The proposed new congressional boundary maps, should voters approve them, would make several changes to Orange County’s districts.
