Texan nationalists are coordinating with secessionist campaigners from five other states, who are also interested in breaking away from the United States, according to one of their leaders.
The claim was made by Daniel Miller, president of the pro-independence Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), on the latest edition of his Late Night Coffee Talk online show that was broadcast on Facebook on June 19.
The past few months have seen a surge in activity from Texas independence campaigners, coinciding with heightened tensions between local authorities and the Biden administration over issues including illegal immigration and education. The Republican Party of Texas included support for an independence referendum in its 2024 Legislative Priorities and Platform document, which was released in June after this was approved by its convention in San Antonio the previous month. At the convention supporters of an independence referendum were also elected as the party’s chair and vice-chair.
On Wednesday Miller was asked whether he supports other groups or states seceding from the U.S., to which he replied: “100 percent, but it’s not that I support their seceding, it’s that I support their right to have the discussion and have the vote and if that’s what they want to do as a people then do so.”
The Texas state flag flies at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, on April 5, 2024. Texan nationalists are coordinating with secessionist campaigners from five other states, according to one of their leaders.
Aaron M. Sprecher/GETTY
Miller went on to claim the TNM has “interface” with independence movements in California, New Hampshire, Alaska, Florida and Louisiana.
He said: “What we do is we work and communicate with independence movements. I mentioned several: Calexit, New Hampshire exit, the people in Florida which is going to be called Flexit I bet, Free Louisiana people, the Alaskan Independence Party.”
Speaking to Newsweek about California, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire Miller said: “A case can be made for a plausible path to independence for any of those states. As with all independence movements, current and historical, their ‘exit’ timeline expands and compresses depending on internal and external factors.
“California, Alaska, and New Hampshire have internal momentum that can be accelerated by a further deterioration of the relationship between the federal government and their people.
“Florida and Louisiana are newer [independence movements] but are already expressing political and legal resistance to federal overreach. Given the federal government’s complete lack of a spirit of reform, if the gulf between their voters and federal policy continues to grow, their push to exit could accelerate greatly.”
“Calexit” is supported by the “Yes California” movement, which was initially founded in 2015 to campaign for greater autonomy for the Golden State but later advocated full independence. It’s most recent plan calls for a new country called “Pacifica” to be formed “in the San Francisco Bay area and along the central California coast,” while the rest of the state would remain in the U.S.
The Alaskan Independence Party was founded in 1984 to campaign for the state to leave the U.S. and become an independent nation.
Some conservatives and libertarians in New Hampshire are also pushing for the state to leave the U.S. Earlier this year Republican state Representative Jason Gerhard introduced legislation that would require New Hampshire to declare independence if the national debt surpasses $40 trillion, around $6 trillion higher than it currently is, though this was not passed into law.
The Florida and Louisiana secessionist movements Miller referenced are apparently much newer and Newsweek could find little information about either online. A YouGov survey published earlier this year found 24 percent of people in Florida, and 23 percent in Louisiana, would support their state leaving the U.S. and becoming a fully independent country.
On his online show Miller emphasized that while the TNM was ready to offer advice to other independence movements, and had held meetings with Alaskan and Californian separatists, the decision over whether any state should leave the Union would have to be made by its citizens.
He said: “We can help them and help their leadership rationalize what that looks like and how to debate the issue and how to organize but ultimately that is a decision they’ve got to make. We don’t want to interfere with what they’re doing. We want to encourage them, help them when we can, but ultimately it’s about helping them organize and ask the question in the right way so their people can vote.”
The activist added: “The same question that we ask Texans is the same question that people in those other states should be asking their citizens and it’s this. ‘If your state was currently an independent nation and had control over its immigration and border policy, its own currency and taxation policy, its own military and everything that nation states around the world have and you were being asked to vote to join the Union knowing everything you know about the federal government would you vote to join?'”
A survey conducted for Newsweek earlier this year found 23 percent of Texans want the state to become “an independent country,” against 67 percent who support it remaining “a state within the United States.” The remaining 10 percent answered “don’t know.”
Update 6/21/24 11:40 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Daniel Miller.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.