Taken for granted by big-city leftists and tired of ruinous Democratic policies they haven't the numbers to change, conservative counties across the U.S. are looking to join red states or form their own.

In Oregon, over a dozen rural red counties have voted in support of moving the state border westward and joining their conservative compatriots in Idaho — a red state where Citizens for Greater Idaho president Mike McCarter noted the legislature "is controlled by representatives from rural districts, who govern according to the concerns and priorities of rural counties."

"There is a way to get better governance for central and eastern Oregon," said Carter. "The current location of the Oregon/Idaho border was decided 165 years ago and is now outdated because it doesn't match the location of the dividing line between the counties that prefer Idaho's style of governance and counties that prefer Oregon's style of governance."

On the other side of the country, 33 Illinois counties have signaled support for forming a new state, New Illinois, in a manner similar to how West Virginia split from Virginia in 1863. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit New Illinois,

The goal of New Illinois is to see a new state established that truly represents its rural, small town and suburban citizens — a state free from the stranglehold of corruption in Illinois government, which grants disproportionate representation to certain cronies, groups such as public sector unions, and urban areas — in particular, Chicago and Cook County.

Phil Gioja of Watseka, Illinois, recently told the Wall Street Journal that he was among the 72.85% of voters in Iroquois County who voted "yes" in answer to the question, "Shall the board of Iroquois 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?"

'For the betterment of mankind, you need to pursue it.'

"There's a lot of people in Chicago, and I think that they make a lot of decisions that affect people downstate," said Gioja. Chicago is home to over 40% of Illinois' population. "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.'"

The Illinois separation referendum won in seven counties where it was on the ballot Nov. 5. That means that roughly one-third of the state now supports ditching Chicago.

In 2013, voters in 11 Colorado counties were asked whether they wanted to break away and form their own state, "North Colorado." Majorities in Phillips, Kit Carson, Yuma, Cheyenne, and Washington County voted in favor of secession. Exasperated residents in Weld County, Colorado, tried a different angle in 2021, pushing to become part of Wyoming. Colorado has yet to lose ground.

Six Republican state legislators in Maryland representing the Trump-supporting counties Garret, Allegany, and Washington reportedly asked West Virginia in 2021 to consider a merger. Legal historian Cynthia Nicoletti of the University of Virginia School of Law told the New York Times, "I find it hard to imagine that the Maryland legislature would vote to allow them to leave and thus consent to divide the state."

There have been hundreds of similar attempts to break up California, many in hopes of liberating rural counties from the control of the populous Democratic enclaves on the coast.

Dozens of northern Californian counties that voted for Trump in the past three elections are among those that have long contemplated forming the "State of Jefferson." Former Republican state Assemblyman Bill Maze alternatively sought an east-west divorce, cutting the 13 coastal counties off from the remaining 45 counties.

Paul Preston, founder of New California State, issued a proclamation earlier this year that he and others were still keen on creating a new state — not to be confused with Jeff Burum's "Empire" state, which would alternatively consist only of San Bernardino County.

'They have seceded from the Union already.'

San Bernardino County has signaled resistance to Sacramento in other ways in recent years, such as its lawsuit to stop Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's draconian lockdown policies during the pandemic. It is also home to efforts to bolster parental rights as well as resistance to Democrat-supported LGBT propaganda in the classroom.

Burum, a real estate developer from Rancho Cucamonga, recently told CalMatters, "If you can see a path to get there, then for the betterment of mankind, you need to pursue it."

Article IV, section III of the U.S. Constitution states

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

Preston apparently thinks that West Virginia paved the way to get around the requirement that the California Legislature sign off on his new state. West Virginia's breakaway was approved without the consent of Virginia's legislature, since the rebel state had voted to secede in 1861.

Preston told the Journal that he will petition Congress for statehood, arguing that California's Democratic government is "a one-party communist state, and technically, they have seceded from the Union already."

Jason Mazzone, a constitutional law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said, "It seems far-fetched. But we live in uncertain times. So if you've got the right people in Congress — and I don't think we do have the right people in Congress — you could do it."

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