This is a big issue here in NJ, where the Dem candidate for governor criticizes the fact that we’ve been downgraded several times during Christie’s reign. Christie was one of the first to highlight the problem, and the Dem’s unspoken message is that he’ll tax the heck out of us to deal with the debt (he has already admitted he’ll raise taxes). The fact that he seems to be leading in the race shows how NJ is determined to follow CA and IL into financial ruin; it is even worse off than CA because it is very easy to circumvent a small state like NJ to get anything done. For example, when another Dem governor wanted to charge for saltwater fishing licenses, it only died when it became clear that people could easily fish from neighboring states instead - and this included NJ fishermen themselves.
Really the only thing that separates CA from the rest of the failed states you cite, is that we have a functioning economy. Failing that, CA is just like NJ, IL and a few others. But even CA’s good economy won’t, in the end, be enough to save it from the fate of the other mega-blue states, because we have a populace that’s even more dependent on the nanny state, coupled with PE unions bent on being rich at taxpayers expense.