REDDING, Calif. — A politically conservative group hoping to split California into two states is holding its convention in Redding.
‘New California’ is creating ‘Reorganized California.’ This would include most of the state, separating out the densely populated areas of Los Angeles, the Bay area and Sacramento.
“What does it say? The Declaration of Independence? It says that if sense that there is a tyranny and your government has failed you, you have a right and a duty to throw off the tyrant,” said Founder and President of New California State Paul Preston.
Preston said he realizes splitting California has been tried unsuccessfully more than 220 times. However, he said that this will follow what West Virginia did during the Civil War.
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“What happened in West Virginia was the legislature at the time decided to go and become part of the Confederacy. So they’ve absented themselves from the government. They left the government alone, there’s nobody there. And so who stepped in? Francis Pierpont. He’s the one who realized that. He said ‘well there’s us and we’re all Virginians here.’ He looked in a room and said ‘we’re all Virginians,’ and I’ve done the same thing. We’ve looked at the room and said ‘we’re all Californians and we can rise above this and we can form a reorganized Virginia government,'” said Preston.
A politically conservative group hoping to split California into two states, called New California, is holding its convention in Redding. Photo taken on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026 (KRCR)
Preston added that New California is active in virtually all 58 counties. He says they chose Shasta County as the place to convene its legislature because there’s a lot of support here.
“It’s the most populous area in Northern California. This is, this has always been a hub. We’ve always had a large number of people that are active in the new California state movement. And to me, it’s just the natural thing to reach out to the population up here,” said Preston.
Reorganized California Legislature is set to meet on Saturday afternoon to convene and pass legislation.
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