Unite America, formerly the Centrist Project, announced Tuesday a historic national slate of independent candidates running for governor and US Senate.

The 5 candidates on the slate include:

• Incumbent Alaska Governor Bill Walker;
• Kansas gubernatorial candidate Greg Orman;
• Maine gubernatorial candidate Terry Hayes;
• Missouri US Senate candidate Craig O'Dear; and
• Maryland US Senate candidate Neal Simon

“These candidates are the vanguard of a new movement in our politics to bridge the growing partisan divide and to ensure government truly represents the people –– not the party bosses or special interests,” said Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America.

Unite America and all 5 candidates released a statement of shared principles, called the "Declaration of Independents." The shared principles are:

• "First, we put the public interest ahead of any partisan or special interest."
• "Second, we use common sense and find common ground to solve problems."
• "Third, we stand for the timeless values of opportunity, equality, and stewardship."
• "Fourth, we champion competition, transparency, and accountability in politics."
• "Fifth, we believe in the shared responsibility of civic engagement."

To read more about these principles, you can visit the Unite America site. You can also follow ongoing and extensive IVN coverage of independent candidates running across the country here.

Unite America is also working through a network of state-based organizations to recruit and support independent state legislative candidates in Alaska, Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington state.

The organization is primarily focused on achieving its "Fulcrum Strategy," which seeks to elect enough independents to deny either major party a majority in narrowly divided legislative bodies, including the US Senate.

This would give a caucus of independent lawmakers control of the balance of power and leverage to bring Republicans and Democrats to the table on the nation's biggest issues.