The Parties Fear the Independent Voter
Because as soon as we organize, their power is under threat.
Let’s be honest. The parties aren’t just scared of election reform, they are terrified of what comes after it:
Independent voters + independent candidates = a political reckoning.
The Parties have been able to control redistricting fights for decades to their own advantage. They've poured dark money into killing open primaries and confusing voters on ranked-choice ballots. They’ve co-opted reform language when it served them, and crushed it when it didn’t.
But there’s one thing they can’t rig, silence, or spin away: a credible independent candidate backed by the largest and most powerful voting bloc in the country.
The Reform Movement Did Its Job
In the last five years, voters have passed more election reforms at the local and state level than in the previous two decades.
Ranked-choice voting is now active in over 50 jurisdictions.
Open primaries are growing in momentum—with ballot measures in places like South Dakota, Nevada, and D.C. gaining real traction.
Independent commissions for redistricting now exist in 10 states.
These reforms matter. They lay the groundwork. They give voters better tools, better choices, and a clearer voice.
But reforms alone don’t change who holds power. They change the rules of the game, but we still need new players.
That’s where Independent candidates come in.
Independent candidates represent the one thing the parties can’t control: A challenge to the very idea that parties are necessary or inevitable. It’s one thing to let independents vote. It’s another to let them win. Because when an Independents wins, they expose the whole regressive system itself and force us to recognize:
That good ideas matter more than party loyalty.
That voters want more solutions, and less slogans.
That millions of Americans have been waiting for someone real to believe in.
Parties can survive reforms, but they do not want to lose power and relevance. And that’s exactly what happens whenever an independent candidate wins, not by joining the machine, but by defying it.
Independents Are the Missing Link
Here’s the uncomfortable truth for the political establishment: They’ve always feared the moment when Independent voters realized their collective power. And with candidates like Dan Osborn in Nebraska, Mike Duggan in Michigan, and David Clayton in North Carolina the parties are recognizing that:
We’re no longer content with just voting for the lesser of two.
We’re running ourselves.
We’re organizing ourselves.
We’re building a movement that doesn’t need the dominant parties at all
The old misdirection of “throwaway” or “spoiler candidates” is collapsing under its own weight. Because in a system rigged for insiders, outsiders are the only ones who can restore trust.
This Isn’t Just a Protest. It’s a Fundamental Realignment.
We’re no longer content with just letting the parties take turns controlling the direction of America. We are here to win ourselves and restore dignity to the idea and process of a self-governance.
Not to flip power from red to blue and back again but to flip it fundamentally so that the plurality of American who call themselves independent finally have a chance to lead themselves.
We are here to make sure no voter is locked out, no candidate is locked in, and no party has a monopoly on your future.
That’s why they fear us.
Not because we’re angry—but because we’re organizing.
Not because we’re loud—but because we’re right.
Not because we’re outsiders—but because we’re done playing their game.
So if you are an Independent voter, this is your call to go beyond reform. If you’re a potential candidate, this is your signal that the ground is ready and institutions exist to support you. If you’ve been watching and waiting, wondering if we could ever truly break free from the duopoly—we can. We are. We will.
The parties fear the Independent voter. They fear the independent candidate. They fear the accountability it brings. And they should.
Written by,
Austen Campbell
Founder | Independent National Coalition