Two-state solution to Newsom move would divide California coast from inland

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office fired back Wednesday at a top California Republican who proposed a “two-state solution” in response to the Democrats’ mid-decennial redistricting effort.

“A person who seeks to split California does not deserve to hold office in the Golden State. This is a stunt that will go nowhere,” a Newsom spokesperson told Nexstar Broadcasting and FOX-40 reporter Eytan Wallace later Wednesday.

They were referring to California Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, who announced a new bill to split California into two new states along a north-south line as a response to Newsom’s redistricting effort.

Gallagher’s plan, laid out in what will be filed as AJR-23, would create a new state featuring its liberal coast and another uniting California’s conservative inland counties.

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Gallagher dubbed the move a “two-state solution” – a term more identified with territorial clashes in the Middle East – to Newsom’s own clash with Republicans, which is the governor’s reply to Texas’ redistricting efforts.

“The people of inland California have been overlooked for too long. It’s time for a two-state solution,” Gallagher said.

Responding to Newsom’s office after Wallace’s report, Gallagher tweeted that he has been “duly elected six times over and I assure you my actions represent exactly how my people feel.”

“We will not allow you to strip us of representation,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher’s resolution responds to Sacramento Democrats’ attempt to permanently redraw California’s congressional maps – an act he says would silence rural voices and rig the political system forever.

While the political power of California’s overall current landmass would be diminished, the new “Inland” California would be one of the largest states by population in the nation, and reliably right-leaning.

Following a series of county lines generally slightly west of Interstate 5 – which runs the 800-mile height of the state – the new coastal state would retain many notably left-wing communities like San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and Sonoma.

It would also include the relatively center-right Orange County, as well as San Diego County, where the state’s Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones hails…