# California National Party

The California National Party (CNP; Spanish: Partido Nacional de California) is a progressive and secessionist political party in the United States. CNP operates within California and supports Californian nationalism. CNP formed in 2015.
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.
CNP was registered with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, California's equivalent of the Federal Election Commission, in 2019 but not in 2021 or 2023.

## Membership

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

## History

CNP was created in August 2015, with the intent of creating a political platform centered on California's needs and Californian identity. 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.
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.
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. 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.

## 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" CNP supports greater powers and funding control for local government in California.

## 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

| Year | Candidate | Office | State | District | Votes | % | Result | Notes | Ref |
| 2021 | Michael Loebs | Governor | California | At-Large | 25,468 | 0.35% | Lost | recall election | |
| 2018 | Gayle McLaughlin | Lieutenant Governor | California | At-Large | 263,364 | 4.0% | Lost | ran as No Party Preference (NPP) candidate; founder of Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA); endorsed by CNP, DSA, GPCA, OR, PFP, PP, and RPA | |

### State legislature elections

| Year | Candidate | Office | State | District | Votes | % | Result | Notes | Ref |
| 2018 | Michelle Gomez | Assembly | California | 76 | 0 | 0% | Lost | did not appear on ballot | |
| 2016 | Louis J. Marinelli | Assembly | California | 80 | 4,753 | 6.43% | Lost | all-party blanket primary, did not advance to general; ran as Independent candidate | |

### Local elections

| Year | Candidate | Office | City | District | Votes | % | Result | Notes |
| 2024 | Ash Seiter | Board of Supervisors | Inyo County | 5th | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 2022 | Aaron Reveles | School Board | Montebello | At-Large | 7,020 | 14.17% | Lost | nonpartisan election |
| 2022 | Carlos Ovalle | City Council | Long Beach | 7 | 1,770 | 30.6% | Lost | nonpartisan election |
| 2022 | Steven Estrada | City Council | Long Beach | 1 | 441 | 8.5% | Lost | nonpartisan election |
| 2020 | Scott Schmidt | Los Rios Community College District Trustee | Sacramento | 7th | 37,476 | 37% | Lost | nonpartisan election |
| 2018 | Micheál O’Leary | Board of Equalization | Los Angeles | 3rd | 43,084 | 3.4% | Lost | all-party blanket primary, did not advance to general; ran as Independent |