We’ve written more than once about the tide of Californians fleeing the Formerly Golden State. Zero Hedge and the Wall Street Journal both recently profiled the impact these refugees have had on Nevada.
Tyler Durden writes that in Henderson, Nevada, “the influx of Californians has grown into a flood that is straining public resources - residents complain of crowded class sizes and home prices, while still lower on an absolute basis, are seeing some of the fastest increases in the country.”
The Wall Street Journal concurs, “Henderson has become a place where California expats can enjoy a better standard of living (and even have some money left over after paying their mortgage) while spending less time sitting in SoCal's notoriously brutal traffic.”
One Californian fleeing the San Diego area found his $250,000 divorce settlement would only buy him a small townhouse or condo, along with a reservation for a daily brutal commute on the state’s highways.
In Henderson the same money bought him a two-story, three bedroom house for $416,000. Another California refugee told the Journal he saved $5,000 a year on his water bill alone. Durden researched Census data and found, “Net migration out of California topped 100,000 in 2015, 2016 and 2017, according to the Census Bureau. And between 2006 and 2017, a total of 1.24 million Californians left the state, never to return, the third highest total in the country, behind only New York and Illinois.”
Between 2013 and 2017, 56 percent of the new arrivals in Henderson formerly received their mail in California.
We have no problem with residents fleeing Taxafornia for lower tax states. The problem is many of the refugees remain infected with the leftist ideology that made California unlivable. For some reason they don’t put two and two together or connect the dots or read the tea leaves. When they settle in to their new home, they continue to reflexively vote for the same type of Democrat politicians that passed the laws and the taxes that drove them out of their old home.
Henderson is in the 3rd Congressional district, which was created in 2003 in response to Nevada’s influx of new residents. From 2003 to 2017 the district, with one exception, was represented by Republicans. The exception was a one-term Democrat who was conservative enough to be a Republican.
Now that’s over. The last two representatives from the district have been Democrat and the entire state of Nevada has turned blue. Nevada’s destiny as a political suburb of California is now only a matter of time.
We don’t want low-tax states to start rejecting refugees from high-tax hellholes, but do we have a suggestion.
The GOP in these states should make it a point to either single out these voters with an education campaign that welcomes them and points out how GOP representatives oppose the taxes and regulations that drove them out of their old state. In short, welcome these refugees to a new state and a new way of thinking.
It’s either that or develop an effective ideology vaccine and require shots as part of the new resident process.
Without some education or inoculation California will have the last laugh as it turns the rest of the country into leftist Mini-Me's.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.