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 No Party Preference (NPP) candidate; founder of Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA); endorsed by CNP, DSA, GPCA, OR, PFP, PP, and RPA [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 primary, 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
3.4%
Lost all-party blanket primary, did not advance to general; ran as Independent [36] [37]

See also

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References

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  2. "We Build Opportunities – Not Walls!". California National Party. February 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
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