IVN Editorial BoardA "schtick"?
That was former DNC chair Jaime Harrison this week, on MS NOW's debate stage, waving off the voters who have given up on both parties as a gimmick. Nearly half the country now refuses to claim allegiance to either party, and the former chair downplays that reality as... theater.
You don't have to be an independent to notice what that reveals: a leadership more comfortable mocking voters than trying to understand them.
Across the table, independent veteran Paul Rieckhoff wasn't buying it. "Most of the Democratic Party should be fired," he shot back, pointing to independent candidates like Montana's Seth Bodnar as the actual future. IVN has the exchange.
Here's what the "schtick" line really tells you. The establishment doesn't mock independents because they're a joke. They mocks independent-minded voters because they still control the rules of the game, and it intends to keep it that way.
This week alone, South Carolina Republicans asked a judge to close their primaries so independents don't have a voice. Buffalo's charter commission told 80% of voters who backed a new election reform proposal, "No." And Maine Democrats ran out the clock so there was no special election at all: Graham Platner got "Joe Biden'd" at the last minute, so voters never got to weigh in.
If independent voters really are a "schtick," party operatives sure are scared of the punchline coming for their charade.
Check out more stories that go outside the two-sided narrative below.
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Former DNC Chair Ridicules Independents — Calls Them a 'Schtick'
On MS NOW’s debate stage, former DNC chair Jaime Harrison dismissed the independent movement as a “schtick” — and Paul Rieckhoff fired back that “most of the Democratic Party should be fired.” Watch the clash over whether independents are a gimmick or the Democrats’ real problem.
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The Only Independent in Congress Wants Five Debates. His Democratic Opponent Won’t Commit to One.
Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley has challenged his Democratic opponent, former state senator Dr. Richard Pan, to five debates in California’s redrawn 6th District — arguing voters, not attack ads, should decide the race. Pan won’t commit to a single one, apparently betting the district’s blue lean carries him in November.
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Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff takes on a brutal news week: a collapsed Iran ceasefire and 140 U.S. strikes across the region, the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham and the scramble over his seat, and another death tied to ICE. One independent voice cutting through the two-party spin.
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Sen. John Fetterman Calls His Phone a 'Drone,' Confuses Logan Paul
Why does Sen. John Fetterman keep holding his phone up mid-interview? On the IMPAULSIVE podcast, hosts Logan Paul and Mike Majlak were sure he was scrolling social media — and a confused back-and-forth followed, with Fetterman briefly calling the phone a “drone” before clearing it up: it’s live captioning that helps him process conversations since the 2022 stroke that nearly killed him. He likens it to glasses: “I know how to read, but I use that as a tool.”
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Independent Voter Podcast
Political strategist and author Mike Madrid joins the Independent Voter Podcast to unpack why so many Latino voters swung to Trump — and then to Zohran Mamdani. His answer is the one neither party wants to hear: these aren’t ideological voters, they’re anti-establishment ones the two-party system keeps misreading.
