The Centrist Project to #HackTheSenate for Independents

image
Kaia Los HuertosKaia Los Huertos
Published: 11 Apr, 2017
1 min read

This week host T.J. O’Hara is joined by the Centrist Project’s executive director, Nick Troiano. The two discussed Nick’s 2014 run for Congress, the bipartisan policy campaign The Can Kicks Back, and the Centrist Project’s latest venture: #HackTheSenate.

The campaign focuses on the fulcrum strategy to “hack” the senate, and works to create a network of supporters and potential candidates ready to run as independents.

Nick Troiano earned a Master’s degree in American Government from Georgetown University, and is currently a civic entrepreneur based in San Francisco, California. He is the Executive Director of the Centrist Project, which aims to elect independent candidates to office in order to bridge the growing partisan divide. Nick worked for Change.org on Change Politics – a nonpartisan platform that empowers citizens to make informed decisions. In 2016, he was named to the “Forbes 30 Under 30" for Law & Policy.

Nick ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 from Pennsylvania’s 10th District and drew national attention as both the youngest candidate and the most successful independent of the cycle, garnering over 22,000 votes. In 2012, Nick co-founded The Can Kicks Back campaign to advocate for bipartisan policies to reduce the national debt and was instrumental in the introduction of the INFORM Act to increase transparency in the federal budget.

You Might Also Like

National Reform Organizations Condemn Texas and California Over Gerrymandering
National Reform Organizations Condemn Texas and California Over Gerrymandering
The United States has passed the point of no return in the unprecedented mid-cycle redistricting fight between Texas and California, which threatens to expand to other states like Republican-controlled Florida and Democratic-controlled New York....
25 Aug, 2025
-
6 min read
Gerrymandering Wars Escalate Beyond Texas and California: A National Race to the Bottom?
Gerrymandering Wars Escalate Beyond Texas and California: A National Race to the Bottom?
Republicans currently hold a narrow 219 to 212 edge over Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, with four vacancies: three from Democratic members who have died and one from a Republican who has resigned. This is the smallest House majority held by either party in nearly a century. The razor-thin margin means the stakes in the 2026 midterms could not be higher. With so few competitive seats left nationwide, both parties are turning to mid-decade redistricting as a way to secure advantages....
27 Aug, 2025
-
10 min read
Hand in ballot that says independent on it.
Why 1.2 Million California Independents Are The Biggest Wild Card in American Politics Today
The fate of Proposition 50, California’s proposed redistricting measure, may come down to voters who have declined to join one of the two major political parties....
22 Aug, 2025
-
5 min read