Secession proponents get green light to move toward ‘Calexit’
Californians could vote to secede from the union as early as 2028, now that organizers have received official permission to begin to collect signatures on the initiative.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced Thursday that Marcus Ruiz Evans, the central proponent of the measure, must collect at least 546,651 signatures from registered voters — 5 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 general election — in order for it to be included on the November 2028 ballot.
Ruiz Evans, a Fresno resident, has until July 22, 2025 to submit the signatures to county election officials, according to Weber’s announcement.
“Calexit means that our laws are determined by the people of California and not unelected bureaucrats in Washington that we didn’t elect,” Ruiz Evans’ website states.
“It means that we get a government that begins and ends at the borders of California. It means an end to the money siphoned from the pockets of California taxpayers. Most importantly, it means that for the first time in our lives we control our own destiny,” the statement added.
Ruiz Evans, who has been angling for secession since 2012, is a staunch Donald Trump opponent, unlike his former partner in the effort, who has now abandoned the project after years of attempts.
He told The Independent that the two parted ways over polarizing political differences that were impossible to overcome, and described being questioned by FBI agents at his front door about Louis Marinelli, a staunch Trumper and Buffalo, New York native whose secessionist activities were allegedly funded by Russian intelligence.
Marinelli has said he had no idea that Aleksandr Ionov, his alleged Russian benefactor, was linked to the Kremlin’s security services until after Ionov and a handful of others were indicted by the feds in 2023.
“People think if you’re a secessionist, you’re crazy,” Ruiz Evans said on Saturday. “I hate Donald Trump,” he added. “I am full-blooded Mexican. The day he went on TV and said all Mexicans are rapists, I said, ‘He can go f*** himself.’ “
He added: “When I see Trump pick on women, on LGBTQ people … my family left Texas for California to escape that. And when I look at Trump, it reminds me of all the horror stories my mom and my grandma told me from [the time] before they left.”
California is not only the most populous state in the U.S., but also its wealthiest, with the fifth-largest economy in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Trump
has proposed adding conditions to federal aid for California to help it
rebuild after devastating wildfires that ravaged the state that have
been linked to climate change and fossil fuel uses, championed by Trump.
The president continues to pick fights with California Governor Gavin Newsome, calling the Democrat “Newscum” in social media posts and at press conferences.
Ruiz Evans told The Independent that Californians are outraged by Trump’s electoral victory following the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and he believes he can rally support to make his dream a reality.
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