California National Party

Last updated
California National Party
Partido Nacional de California
AbbreviationCNP
Founded2015;9 years ago (2015)
Headquarters Sacramento, California
Membership (January 2022)413 [1]
Ideology Californian nationalism
Social democracy
Environmentalism
Political position Center-left
Colours  Yellow
  Blue
Seats in the U.S. Senate
0 / 2
Seats in the U.S. House
0 / 52
Statewide Executive Offices
0 / 8
Seats in the State Senate
0 / 40
Seats in the State Assembly
0 / 80
Website
www.californianational.party OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The California National Party (CNP; Spanish : Partido Nacional de California [2] ) is a progressive and secessionist political party in the United States. CNP operates within California and supports Californian nationalism. [3] [4] CNP formed in 2015.

Contents

CNP's name and purpose are partly inspired by the Scottish National Party, a social democratic, civic nationalist, center-left party that advocates independence for Scotland. [5] [3]

CNP was registered with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, California's equivalent of the Federal Election Commission, in 2019 [6] but not in 2021 [7] or 2023. [8]

Membership

In January 2022, CNP had 413 registered voters in California. [1] After April 2022, the Secretary of State no longer listed the CNP in its voter tallies. [9] To achieve qualified party status, the CNP would need 0.33% of total registered voters, or about 73,000. [10] [11] In May 2022, CNP claimed "a few thousand people" on its email list. [12]

History

CNP was created in August 2015, [13] with the intent of creating a political platform centered on California's needs and Californian identity. [14] CNP filed intent to qualify as a political party on December 7, 2015. The Secretary of State approved this, assigned the code "CNP", and notified county offices of this on January 6, 2016. [15]

CNP held its first convention in June 2016 in Sacramento, California. CNP elected Theo Slater as Chair, Andria Franco as Vice Chair, and Jed Wheeler (founder of Californians for Independence) as Secretary. In September 2016, CNP merged with Californians for Independence (CfI) and adopted a new platform, based on the CfI platform. [16]

CNP has distanced itself from Yes California and its founder Louis J. Marinelli and its "Calexit", for its ideology and for its alleged connections to Russia. [17] [14] [18] Jed Wheeler, CNP Secretary, stated to Politico that "Yes California is a movement whose optics are all designed for a Russian audience to reinforce Putin" and stressed that CNP is a progressive party. [19] [14]

Ideology

CNP's "core values" are "building and defending California", "fact-based, compassionate policy", "individual rights and social responsibility", "locally-focused political empowerment", and "prosperity for all Californians" [20] CNP supports greater powers and funding control for local government in California. [20]

Election results

CNP has fielded electoral candidates for local and state offices. CNP candidates run on the CNP ballot line, rather than as independents or on the Green ballot line.

No CNP candidate has yet won an election.

Statewide elections

YearCandidateOfficeStateDistrictVotes %ResultNotesRef
2021 Michael Loebs Governor California At-Large25,468
0.35%
Lostrecall election [21] [22] [23] [24]
2018 Gayle McLaughlin Lieutenant Governor California At-Large263,364
4.0%
Lostran as Independent [lower-alpha 1] candidate; founder of Richmond Progressive Alliance; endorsed by CNP, DSA, GPCA, OR, PFP, and PP [25] [26]

State legislature elections

YearCandidateOfficeStateDistrictVotes %ResultNotesRef
2018Michelle Gomez Assembly California 760
0%
Lostdid not appear on ballot [25] [26]
2016 Louis J. Marinelli Assembly California 804,753
6.43%
Lost all-party blanket, did not advance to general; ran as Independent candidate [27] [17]

Local elections

YearCandidateOfficeCityDistrictVotes %ResultNotesRef
2024Ash SeiterBoard of Supervisors Inyo County 5thTBDTBDTBDTBD [28] [29]
2022Aaron RevelesSchool Board Montebello At-Large7,020
14.17%
Lostnonpartisan election [30] [31]
2022Carlos OvalleCity Council Long Beach 71,770
30.6%
Lostnonpartisan election [32] [31]
2022Steven EstradaCity Council Long Beach 1441
8.5%
Lostnonpartisan election [33]
2020Scott Schmidt Los Rios Community College District Trustee Sacramento 7th37,476
37%
Lostnonpartisan election [34] [35]
2018Micheál O’LearyBoard of Equalization Los Angeles 3rd43,084 [lower-alpha 2]
3.4%
Lostran as Independent [36] [37]

See also

Notes

  1. McLaughlin appeared on the ballot as No Party Preference (NPP).
  2. First-round primary vote

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1860 United States presidential election</span> 19th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states had already abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes. Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the states that would become the Confederacy seceding from the Union. This marked the first time that a Republican was elected president. It was also the first presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1904, 1920, 1940, 1944, and 2016.

Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession. A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the creation of a new state or entity independent of the group or territory from which it seceded. Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson (proposed Pacific state)</span> Proposed U.S. state in the United States of America

The State of Jefferson is a proposed U.S. state that would span the contiguous, mostly rural area of southern Oregon and Northern California, where several attempts to separate from Oregon and California, respectively, have taken place. The region encompasses most of Northern California's land but does not include San Francisco or other Bay Area counties that account for the majority of Northern California's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace and Freedom Party</span> Socialist political party in the United States

The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) is a socialist political party in the United States. PFP operates mostly in California. PFP formed in 1966 from anti-Vietnam War and pro-civil rights movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secessionism in Western Australia</span> Pro-independence sentiment and movement

Secessionism has been a recurring feature of Western Australia's political landscape since shortly after Federation in 1901. The idea of self-governance or secession has often been discussed through local newspaper articles and editorials. On a number of occasions secession has been a serious political issue for the State, including in a successful but unimplemented 1933 state referendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in California</span>

Elections in California are held to fill various local, state and federal seats. In California, regular elections are held every even year ; however, some seats have terms of office that are longer than two years, so not every seat is on the ballot in every election. Special elections may be held to fill vacancies at other points in time. Recall elections can also be held. Additionally, statewide initiatives, legislative referrals and referendums may be on the ballot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascadia movement</span> Bioregion, proposed country in North America

The Cascadia movement is a bioregional independence movement based in the Cascadia bioregion of western North America. Potential boundaries differ, with some drawn along existing political state and provincial lines, and others drawn along larger ecological, cultural, political, and economic boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election in California</span>

The 2008 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 2008, in California as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 55 electors, the most out of any of the 50 states, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secession in the United States</span> A state leaving the Union

In the context of the United States, secession primarily refers to the voluntary withdrawal of one or more states from the Union that constitutes the United States; but may loosely refer to leaving a state or territory to form a separate territory or new state, or to the severing of an area from a city or county within a state. Advocates for secession are called disunionists by their contemporaries in various historical documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Progressive Party</span> Progressive political party in the United States

The Oregon Progressive Party (OPP) is a progressive and secessionist political party in the United States. OPP operates in Oregon. OPP formed in 2007 as the Oregon Peace Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas secession movements</span> Movement that advocates Texas to be an independent sovereign state

Texas secession movements, also known as the Texas Independence movement or Texit, refers to both the secession of Texas during the American Civil War as well as activities of modern organizations supporting such efforts to secede from the United States and become an independent sovereign state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partition and secession in California</span> Proposals to split the state or leave the US

California, the most populous state in the United States and third largest in area after Alaska and Texas, has been the subject of more than 220 proposals to divide it into multiple states since its admission to the Union in 1850, including at least 27 significant proposals prior to the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Solidarity Party</span> American political party

The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a Christian democratic political party in the United States. It was founded in 2011 and officially incorporated in 2016. The party has a Solidarity National Committee (SNC) and has numerous active state and local chapters. Peter Sonski is the party's nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Louis J. Marinelli is a political activist known for having launched a campaign for California independence in 2014, re-branded as Yes California in 2015. Marinelli is the president of Yes California and the former interim chairman of the California National Party, under which he also ran for California State Assembly in California's 80th State Assembly district representing south San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, San Ysidro, and the surrounding communities, where he had been teaching English for EF Education First. In 2016, he moved to Yekaterinburg, Russia to teach English abroad and later relocated to Moscow in 2018 to become a kindergarten English teacher there. Marinelli left Russia with his family in December, 2021, to return to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yes California</span> Secessionist campaign for California

Yes California is a Californian political action committee that promotes the Independence of the state of California from the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Kiley (politician)</span> American politician (born 1985)

Kevin Kiley is an American politician, attorney, and former educator serving as the U.S. representative for California's 3rd congressional district since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the 6th district in the California State Assembly from 2016 to 2022. Kiley was one of 53 candidates to replace California governor Gavin Newsom in the voter-initiated recall election on September 14, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 California gubernatorial recall election</span>

The 2021 California gubernatorial recall election was a special recall election that began in August 2021 and concluded on September 14, 2021, when California voters chose not to recall incumbent Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, elected for the term January 2019 to January 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 California elections</span>

The 2022 California elections took place on November 8, 2022. The statewide direct primary election was held on June 7, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 California elections</span>

The 2024 California elections will take place on November 5, 2024. The statewide direct primary election was held on March 5, 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 California Proposition 1</span> Successful referendum on enshrining reproductive rights in the state constitution

Proposition 1, titled Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom and initially known as Senate Constitutional Amendment 10 (SCA 10), was a California ballot proposition and state constitutional amendment that was voted on in the 2022 general election on November 8. Passing with more than two-thirds of the vote, the proposition amended the Constitution of California to explicitly grant the right to an abortion and contraceptives, making California among the first states in the nation to codify the right. The decision to propose the codification of abortion rights in the state constitution was precipitated in May 2022 by Politico's publishing of a leaked draft opinion showing the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The decision reversed judicial precedent that previously held that the United States Constitution protected the right to an abortion.

References

  1. 1 2 "Registration by Political Bodies Attempting to Qualify by County" (PDF). California Secretary of State. January 4, 2022.
  2. "We Build Opportunities – Not Walls!". California National Party. February 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 Mike Pearl (17 February 2016). "Meet the California Separatists Leading a New Movement to Secede from the United States". VICE . Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  4. Tomlinson, Bill; Torrance, Andrew (2020). "Fault Lines: An Empirical Legal Study of California Secession". Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law (SJTEIL). 11: 1.
  5. Jim Miller. "California could see new political party with independence goal". Sacramento Bee . Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  6. "Drawing Schedule: General Purpose Committees 2019". California Fair Political Practices Commission. Archived from the original on 2020-04-12.
  7. "Drawing Schedule: General Purpose Committees 2021". California Fair Political Practices Commission. Archived from the original on 2022-02-18.
  8. "Drawing Schedule: General Purpose Committees 2023". California Fair Political Practices Commission. Archived from the original on 2024-05-24.
  9. "Registration by Political Bodies Attempting to Qualify by County" (PDF). California Secretary of State. April 8, 2022.
  10. "Political Party Qualification". Archived from the original on 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  11. "Historical Voter Registration Statistics for 15-Day Reports" (PDF). elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov. California Secretary of State. August 30, 2021.
  12. California National Party (May 19, 2022). "Our email list has a few thousand people. Our Gov. Candidate got around 26,000 votes".
  13. Hastings, Tom; Center for Peace and Justice Education at Villanova University (2022). "Most Likely to Secede: Can the US "Go Gorbachev"?". Journal for Peace and Justice Studies. 31 (1): 65–80. doi:10.5840/peacejustice20223114. ISSN   1093-6831.
  14. 1 2 3 Melia Robinson (31 January 2017). "Californians are calling for a split from the US — but one secessionist group has odd ties to Russia". Business Insider . Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  15. "Political Body: California National Party" (PDF). California Secretary of State . 6 January 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  16. "The California National Party Platform". California National Party. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  17. 1 2 Alexei Koseff. "These 578 voters want California to form an independent country". Sacramento Bee . Archived from the original on 2020-04-26. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  18. "Statement on Yes California's Russian Embassy and the Crimean Model". California National Party. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  19. Casey Michel (15 January 2017). "Why Russia Loves the Idea of California Seceding". Politico . Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  20. 1 2 "About the California National Party". California National Party. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  21. Ting, Eric (June 18, 2021). "This SFSU lecturer and California secessionist may be Gavin Newsom's most fascinating recall foe". SFGATE.
  22. "Official Certified List of Candidates September 14, 2021, California Gubernatorial Recall Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State's Office. July 21, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-22.
  23. Weber, Shirley (22 October 2021). "STATEMENT OF VOTE, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL RECALL ELECTION" (PDF). Office of the California Secretary of State . Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  24. Lescure, David (September 28, 2021). "Our Own Michael Loebs gets 25,000 votes for Governor — Now Let's Register More Supporters!". California National Party.
  25. 1 2 "Statewide Direct Primary Election - Statement of the Vote, June 5, 2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State.
  26. 1 2 "Introducing Gayle McLaughlin for California Lieutenant Governor and Michelle Gomez for CA State Assembly, District 76, two candidates that California National Party is proud to endorse". California National Party. January 20, 2018.
  27. "Louis J. Marinelli, III". Ballotpedia.
  28. "Our candidate for Fifth District, Ash Seiter sits down for an interview". California National Party.
  29. "Ash Seiter". Ballotpedia.
  30. "General Election November 8, 2022". Los Angeles County.
  31. 1 2 "7TH CNP ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION 2022". California National Party Central Valley.
  32. "Carlos Ovalle". Ballotpedia.
  33. "Steven Estrada". Ballotpedia.
  34. 2020 California National Party Convention , retrieved 2021-07-22
  35. "Election Night Results". Sacramento County. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26.
  36. "Micheál O'Leary". Ballotpedia.
  37. "Here are a couple photos from our meeting of the Los Angeles Chapter of the California National Party". California National Party. February 20, 2018.