Mysterious new billboards are warning California residents to not transfer to Texas, as file numbers of residents flee the soft-on-crime Golden State for higher high quality of life in pink states.

“The Texas Miracle died in Uvalde. Don’t transfer to Texas,” the billboards learn, alongside a hooded determine and a crossed-out “Don’t mess with Texas” slogan.

Nineteen college students and two lecturers had been killed at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde on Might 24, marking the deadliest faculty taking pictures within the US in a decade.

The “Texas Miracle” refers to former Gov. Rick Perry’s description of the state’s regulatory mannequin, which helped it climate the Nice Recession. “Don’t mess with Texas,” a favourite motto within the Lone Star State, is rooted in a Nineteen Eighties anti-littering marketing campaign.

Whereas it’s unclear who’s answerable for the billboards, residents have reported seeing them in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The San Francisco billboard, close to the nook of Folsom and seventh Avenue, was reportedly leased to advertisers by FoxPoint Media.

The billboards have emerged amid census knowledge that confirms massive numbers of Californians flocking to Texas.  

Based on a examine by the Texas Actual Property Analysis Middle, one in each 10 Texas transplants is from California. Final spring, California misplaced a Home seat as its inhabitants declined relative to different states, whereas Texas gained two.

Writing in The Submit final 12 months, writer and Texas transplant Kevin D. Williamson argued that the state provided a conservative haven for moneyed residents seeking to escape California’s “woke” insurance policies.

Earlier this month, soft-on-crime Los Angeles County DA George Gascón narrowly survived a recall after greater than 520,000 eligible voters supported his ouster. In June, fed-up San Francisco voters tossed progressive DA Chesa Boudin in a landslide.

Other than “excessive taxes and excessive rents,” Williamson blamed the exodus on California’s “heavy-handed and ineffective” response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Current statistics recommend that the flood of residents from California did actually improve in the course of the pandemic, with Texas being the most well-liked vacation spot. This development may be fueled partially by the motion of a number of main tech firms, together with Tesla and Oracle Corp., to the state in recent times.

Given the regular trickle of interlopers from California to Texas, some on-line commenters puzzled if the billboards weren’t an orchestrated try and stanch the circulate.

“Is Texas shopping for billboards to discourage Californian expatriates from turning their state blue?” requested one Reddit consumer.

“Fairly frankly this is able to take advantage of sense out of something,” one other replied.

Different observers take problem with the billboards’ point out of the Uvalde taking pictures, with one Redditor calling it “essentially the most disgusting use of political propaganda, utilizing the tragedy to their benefit.”

“It’s actually kinda offensive to the individuals who misplaced their youngsters in Uvalde,” one other consumer agreed.

“The billboard is immensely complicated and fails at no matter its messaging intends,” stated one remark.

Nonetheless, some viewers urged potential transplants to not be deterred by the weird messaging — so long as they vote blue.

One Redditor, who recognized themselves as a “Texan leftist from a lefty household,” complained that “I passionately hate the individuals who transfer right here to dwell out their idiotic yee-haw fantasies.”

“We’d like extra lefties to maneuver right here to stability out the Republican carpet baggers.”

In an article concerning the billboards, SF Gate famous that the rivalry between the 2 states has reached new public heights, with Govs. Greg Abbott and Gavin Newsom sparring within the media.

Earlier in the summertime, Newsom took out full-page advertisements in three Texas newspapers blasting Abbott’s stance on abortion and gun management. Abbott himself beforehand campaigned with the slogan “Don’t California my Texas!”

Newsom is way from Abbott’s solely enemy throughout state traces. The controversial Republican has additionally traded barbs with New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams over the busing of hundreds of migrants from Texas to New York.

Throughout an August 10 information look, Abbott dared Adams to “make my day” by difficult his bid for re-election.

FoxPoint Media didn’t instantly return a request for remark.