By JEFFREY FRENKIEWICH Concord Monitor

Jeff Frenkiewich is a Milford Middle School social studies teacher and a UNH adjunct professor

In recent years, the idea of secession as a solution for America’s political divide has gained increased popularity, particularly on the Right. After Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, for example, Ohio congressional candidate J.R. Majewski called for Republican-leaning states to secede from the Union; Mississippi state representative Price Wallace similarly called for his state to secede. In 2021, the Texas Republican party endorsed legislation that called for a referendum on state secession, and Sen. Ted Cruz told Texas A&M students that he would support the measure if “things become hopeless” under President Biden.

This March, right here in New Hampshire, 13 Republican State Representatives voted in support of a state constitutional amendment to read that New Hampshire “peaceably declares independence from the United States and immediately proceeds as a sovereign nation.”

Thankfully, more than 300 lawmakers voted down the measure.

Polling conducted in 2021 found that 66 percent of Republicans in Southern states favored seceding from the Union, but sentiment in favor of secession has growing support among Democrats. The same poll found that 47 percent of Democrats in the Pacific coast states and 43 percent of Democrats in the Northeastern states also favored secession. National media outlets have also fueled this narrative by publishing stories with titles like “The Case for Blue-State Secession.”

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