As we’ve known for some time now, people have been fleeing from California in record numbers for a variety of very legitimate reasons. Whether it’s the soaring crime rates, wildfires, open-air drug markets, or massive homeless encampments, the Democrats in charge of the state government and all the major cities have run the place into the ground. What sane person wouldn’t be looking for greener pastures at this point? But where should the escapees look for a better life? As our colleague Sarah Arnold reports at Townhall, Utah Governor Spencer Cox has one message for them. Look elsewhere, because Utah doesn’t need you.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah) has a message for Californians trying to flee their blue state for a more accessible and cheaper place to call home. 

In response to Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s plea to get people to move to his state, Cox said that isn’t an issue for him. 

“We’re having the opposite problem; this last census confirmed that Utah was the fastest-growing state in the last ten years,” Cox told reporters. “So our biggest problems are more growth related. We would love for people to stay in California instead of coming as refugees to Utah, so we’re always trying to figure that out.”

Cox is right to worry about a sudden influx of woke Californians into his state. The population of Utah is only 3.44 million, though that is up considerably from just a decade ago. Los Angeles County alone has nearly three times as many people. It wouldn’t take all that many members of the California exodus to start tipping the scales politically. Before you know it, the new arrivals could start electing the type of people who destroyed the once-prosperous Golden State.

Cox pointed out other issues that point to a need to limit immigration to his state. The growing population has already put a significant strain on Utah’s available freshwater supplies. On top of that, affordable housing is becoming an issue as more people arrive. There are always growing pains associated with a sudden influx of people to any area, and Spencer Cox is clearly trying to minimize the impact. He might want to warn any Californians considering such a move that Utah experiences real winter every year. That may come as an unpleasant shock to those who are used to California’s sunny beaches.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is practically begging Californians to move to the Garden State. That seems like a much better fit. (Except for the fact that New Jersey also experiences real winter seasons.) If only there were some way to pack as many Democrats as possible in the smallest number of blue states. (#sigh)

Sadly, Utah may turn out to be a type of test case. Florida has already experienced a huge surge in population, increasing by more than three million (nearly the total population of Utah) in just the past decade. Many of the newcomers arrived from the very blue state of New York. And yet somehow, Ron DeSantis has managed to turn the state to an even deeper shade of red. Could Spencer Cox achieve the same result in Utah? Time will tell.