New California: The Group Pushing for a Breakaway State

Led by Paul Preston, a talk radio host on One Radio Network and president of the movement, supporters say California has been taken over by a "totalitarian one-party system" and argue that the only solution is to carve out a 51st state. "We're not secessionists—we're not trying to secede from the Union," Preston told Newsweek. "We're making a new state, growing the Union of states, so that we will become the 51st state of the Union." Newsweek has contacted Governor Gavin Newsom's office for comment via email.