Gas tax. Sanctuary state. Plastic straws. Name a political topic in California and most Democrats and Republicans line up on opposite sides.
But a tech billionaire’s controversial plan to divide the fifth largest economy in the world is giving leaders of the diametrically different political parties an opportunity to find common ground.
Democrats don’t want to see a state they dominate get broken into three pieces. Registration data show that all three new jurisdictions would still vote blue, so it would be foolish for the GOP to hand four new US Senate seats to Democrats and flip the house. Even the State of Jefferson opposes the plan.
The California Republican Party gave the measure an official thumbs down in May.
“The issue is that this is a vivisection or amputation solution to eczema,” said Harmeet Dhillon, a committeewoman for the Republican National Committee and a state party board member. “We have some serious problems with the state that could be fixed by electing better representatives. I don’t think cutting the state into three pieces solves anything.”
