9% of Voters Already Picked Your Congress. A New Poll Says Everyone Else Is Fed Up

Trump and Zohran Mamdani just had round two at Gracie Mansion, all smiles and charm. The IVP crew says the real story isn't the photo op, it's the primary system that manufactured two "ideological extremes" who now have to govern together.

Chad, Cara, Shawn, and Ethan open by unpacking why Trump and Mamdani's rhetoric is scorched-earth in public but strangely cordial in person, and connect it to Katherine Gehl's recent argument about incentive structures in politics. Then comes a big on-air announcement: Independent Voter Project is filing a new federal lawsuit challenging closed primaries in New York, with veteran advocate Paul Rieckhoff as lead plaintiff. Shawn also digs into a deceptive Alaska ad campaign trying to roll back the state's open primary system.

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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Episode Highlights

On this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, hosts Chad Peace, Cara McCormick, Shawn Griffiths, and Ethan Handelman open by breaking down the surprisingly cordial second meeting between President Trump and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, contrasting it with the scorched-earth rhetoric both men use publicly.

The hosts tie the dynamic to a recent piece by Katherine Gehl on how the two-party incentive structure manufactures ideological extremes, arguing that Trump's 'take an extreme position, then come to the middle' style is a direct product of a broken primary system rather than personal ideology.

Chad cites turnout data showing many New York primary races drew roughly 7% turnout, with about 64% of statewide races effectively uncontested, illustrating how a small, unrepresentative slice of the electorate can decide who governs everyone.

The conversation turns to California's Prop 50 redistricting, where Cara's reporting on Rep. David Valadao's gerrymandered district shows Democrats cutting out a Republican incumbent's home base to boost a DSA-aligned candidate. This raises questions about whether the move could backfire on the party's more moderate wing.

In a live on-air announcement, Chad reveals that Independent Voter Project will file a new federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York challenging the constitutionality of closed primaries, with veteran advocate and Independent Veterans of America leader Paul Rieckhoff serving as lead plaintiff.

Chad connects the filing to the group's 15-year history of primary litigation, including a prior New Jersey case and attorney Michael J. Polelle's Florida case that reached Supreme Court conference, framing the new suit as a First Amendment argument over whether voting rights derive from citizenship or party membership.

Shawn closes out the newsy segment by dissecting a deceptive Alaska ad campaign urging voters to 'return to the days of open primaries,' explaining the ad conflates traditional party-run open primaries with Alaska's current voter-controlled open primary and ranked choice voting system it's actually trying to repeal.