The California National Party is launching a new affiliate chapter in Orange County, with a formal kickoff event scheduled for later this week. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
The party sent Independent Political Report an announcement this week about the new chapter, with the launch set for Thursday, May 22. Party members will meet at the Mission Control Bar Arcade in Santa Ana. James Gardner, a former member of the Lake Forest City Council who later became its mayor in 2018, will chair the new chapter.
According to registration details, party chair Sean Forbes will host an open discussion as part of the event, addressing the current political landscape, recent efforts by the state organization to advance California autonomy, and initiatives focused on issues specific to Orange County. He will be joined by Gardner.
Including the Orange County chapter, the California National Party reports that it has affiliate groups in ten regions. It also maintains an affiliate for supporters outside of California, along with several identity-based caucuses. The party is additionally exploring the formation of a liberation caucus to work within the Peace and Freedom Party, another electoral organization primarily active in California.
The California National Party describes itself as a “secessionist and civic nationalist political party” that supports broad progressive policies and advocates for California’s independence from the United States. As of this article, the party is not currently recognized by the state as a qualified political body. However, it was listed as a political body attempting to qualify by the California Secretary of State as recently as early 2022.
Would that be conditioned on inland counties and cities being able to simultaneously secede from coastal California?
As someone who lives very far from California and is just as far politically from the people who call themselves progressive, I strongly support their goal of California secession.