Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire leaving California: ‘Terrible governance has consequences’

The Daily Wire is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Nashville, Tenn., later this year, the conservative media company, which was co-founded by Ben Shapiro, announced on Tuesday.

“We’ve been asked over and over and over again when we would leave California. The answer: now. See you in Nashville, gang!” Shapiro wrote to his more than 3.1 million followers on Twitter.

“I’ve lived my entire life in California. Within weeks, we’ll be taking our 75 jobs and leaving. We’re not the first. And we certainly won’t be the last. Terrible governance has consequences,” he added in a subsequent post.

We’ve been asked over and over and over again when we would leave California. The answer: now. See you in Nashville, gang! https://t.co/CP0ZErmSEM

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 16, 2020

The 36-year-old UCLA graduate has been critical of California officials throughout his career.

No, actually, Democrats turned California into a dystopian punchline. https://t.co/ngf5T4p33N

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 25, 2020

Gavin Newsom wandering around in the fiery woods is just such an apt metaphor for the governance in this unbelievably insane state.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 14, 2020

Shapiro becomes the second influential political commentator to leave California recently, with popular podcaster Joe Rogan announcing a move from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, in late July.

“When you look at the traffic, you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that has accelerated radically over the last decade, I think there are too many people here,” Rogan said at the time.

Shapiro has a large following, particularly among younger conservatives.

“The Ben Shapiro Show” podcast is downloaded 10 million times every month, and 70 percent of his audience is under the age of 40, according to a 2019 profile in The New York Times.