Following the 2024 presidential election, Republican-led counties are pushing to secede from Democrat-led counties in deep blue states to form independent states.
The New York Post reported that while many conservative residents in Democrat-led states have relocated to Republican-led states with lower taxes and fewer government regulations, other residents in blue states are starting to question whether they could stay where they are and pursue independence from blue states.
According to NBC Chicago, seven rural counties voted in the 2024 election to approve a ballot initiative to consider the idea of secession in Illinois. According to the outlet, voters were asked, “Shall the board of (the county) correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois, outside of Cook County, about the possibility of separating from Cook County to form a new state and to seek admission to the Union as such, subject to the approval of the people?”
Explaining why the seven counties voted to consider the idea of secession from Illinois, Phil Gioja, an Iroquois County resident, told The Wall Street Journal, “There’s a lot of people in Chicago, and I think that they make a lot of decisions that affect people downstate.” Gioja added, “It’s just sending a message that, ‘Hey, you know, there’s people that would like to be part of the conversation, and often aren’t.'”
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Gioja is not the only Iroquois County resident who wants greater representation in a state dominated by Chicago voters. In Iroquois County, roughly 73 percent of voters voted in favor of considering secession.
G.H. Merritt, who is helping lead efforts to form a new state independent from Illinois, told The Wall Street Journal that the economic challenges facing the Democrat-led state could provide the best opportunity for secession.
“We always believed that our best opportunity to negotiate our way out of Illinois was when Illinois was approaching that financial cliff — it’s been on a path toward it for years,” Merritt said.
Paul Preston, founder of the New California State initiative, also told The Wall Street Journal that a movement to have counties outside of San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Oakland secede from the California has been generating support. Preston told the outlet, “I’m so flipping excited.” Preston also claimed that California is a “one-party communist state” that has “seceded from the Union already.”
The New York Post noted that while red counties are considering secession from blue states and gaining momentum, the county coalitions would need the approval of state legislatures to become independent states.
