Frequently asked questions

No. Several distinct groups have carried the banner at different times, and they are not the same people: the California National Party is a political party that runs candidates; and the Independent California Institute is a nonprofit think tank that studies independence and autonomy options without campaigning; Yes California (founded 2015, effectively defunct since 2024) ran the original "Calexit" initiative campaigns; the failed 2025–26 ballot-initiative campaign was led by Marcus Ruiz Evans.

No — they're opposite ideas that often get mixed together. CalExit means California leaving the United States entirely. Partition proposals — like Tim Draper's "Six Californias" (2014) and "Cal 3" (2018) — would split California into more U.S. states. Partition has its own, different legal route: it requires consent of the state legislature and Congress under Article IV of the U.S. Constitution. There have been over 220 proposals to divide California since statehood; none has succeeded. A more practical problem is that the proposals almost always split the state into a rich half and a poor half, and the poor half would find itself barely able to provide services from a very reduced tax base: In the unified state, the poorer counties are heavily subsidized by the richer. If you'd like to see how some of the proposed splits work out, or even try creating your own, head over to CaliSplit and see the results.

No. CalExit.org is an independent, informational reference. It is not affiliated with or funded by any campaign, party, or organization on any side of this question, and it does not advocate for or against California independence, any ballot measure, any candidate, or any party. Corrections are welcome at admin@calexit.org.

CalExit (a play on "Brexit") is the umbrella term for the idea that California should leave the United States and become an independent country. It is not one organization or one plan — since the term took off after the 2016 presidential election, it has covered a series of ballot-initiative campaigns, a minor political party (California National Party), a research institute (Independent California Institute), and a general current in California politics that surges when Sacramento and Washington are furthest apart.

Ballot initiaves have been designed to create commissions to study the issue or schedule future votes on the topic. None have been to actually seceede.

The short answer is that nobody knows for sure. The Dean of UC Berkeley Law School, Erwin Chemerinksy, writes "The Constitution says absolutely nothing about states choosing to opt out of the United States. It neither prohibits secession nor creates a mechanism for it." ("No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United"). Nonetheless, nobody argues California could simply vote itself out. We have detailed coverage of this issue at our Texas vs White page.

The California National Party has fielded candidates for office as recently as the June 2026 primary election, and looks to continue doing so in the future. Past attempts at ballot initiatives have all fallen short of qualifying for ballot access, including a most recent one in 2026. There are no current or planned attempts at a new initiative at the time of this writing. Nonetheless, the movement itself remains active: advocacy continues, and polling interest in the question is at or near its historic high.

None of the currently active organizations have any connection with Russia. Louis Marinelli, who was a leader of a defunct group, Yes California, reportedly opened a "Calexit embassy" in Moscow in December 2016 with support from a Kremlin-linked group, and moved to Russia in 2017. In 2022, the U.S. Justice Department indicted the Russian founder of that group for an FSB-directed influence campaign that included directing a California secession organization. Yes California dissolved in 2024.

Tried? No. Have people proposed? All the time: Californians have floated more than 220 proposals to divide the state since 1850 — including the 1859 Pico Act (approved by the legislature and southern-county voters; died in Congress), the 1941 "State of Jefferson" movement in the far north, and Tim Draper's "Six Californias" (2014) and "Cal 3" (2018) initiatives. Full secession campaigns are newer: Yes California (2015) made "Calexit" a household word after the 2016 election, and successor efforts have filed independence-plebiscite initiatives repeatedly since. None has reached a ballot.

California hosts 32 military installations and more than 150,000 personnel — including Camp Pendleton, the Navy's largest state footprint, and major Air Force and testing facilities. An independent California would have to negotiate their status (basing agreements, transfers, or closures) and then either build its own defense force or rely on treaties with the country it just left. Skeptics call this a from-scratch problem with no precedent at this scale; advocates group it with the other transition questions a negotiated exit would resolve.

Answers to this question could only come out of the negotiated separation of the state. No reasonable observer doubts that these benefits would be continued in a separated California.

The Colorado River. which provides about 15% of California's water supply, would be a topic in secession negotiations. Southern California depends more heavily (about 1/3rd) on the Colorado River, which is allocated among seven states under a federal interstate compact. The remainder of California's water is purely from within the state.