Independent Voter Podcast
The same young Latino voters who swung to Donald Trump in 2024 just handed New York to Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani - and no, they haven't changed their minds about anything. Strategist Mike Madrid explains why the fastest-growing bloc in American politics is walking out on both parties at once.
Madrid - author of The Latino Century - joins the show to blow up the way both parties read the Latino vote. His case: what looks like voters lurching right, then left, then right again is actually a dealignment - a conscious rejection of the entire two-party system, driven by class and generation far more than ethnicity.
The crew digs into California's Latino turnout surge behind Becerra, why New York's closed primaries produced a dismal 9% turnout, and what really went down at the first-ever National Latino Summit in D.C. Stick around for his blunt advice on how voters can break the cycle of partisanship.
This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Episode Highlights
On this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, Chad, Ethan, and Cara sit down with political strategist Mike Madrid, author of The Latino Century, to unpack why Latino voters have become the fastest-growing bloc of independent voters in America.
Mike argues this isn't a partisan realignment but a "dealignment" — a rejection of both parties driven not by race or ethnicity, but by class and generation. He points to record independent voter turnout in California's gubernatorial primary and contrasts it with New York's closed primary system, where turnout lagged far behind.
The conversation dives deep into open primaries vs. closed primaries, with Mike explaining how California's Top Two nonpartisan primary system empowers unaffiliated voters while New York's rules force voters to register with a party just to have a voice.
Contrast this with the Independent Voter Project's ongoing legal strategy — including lawsuits and amicus briefs in New Jersey, California, and Florida — which frames closed primaries as a fundamental voting rights issue rather than a partisan one.
Mike highlights striking generational data, including a 2016 primary split where Latino voters under 30 broke overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders while older Latino voters backed Hillary Clinton, underscoring that age — not ethnicity — is the real driver of political independence today.
Mike closes with a call to action: leave your political party, reject the hyperpartisan power structures, and support structural reforms like ranked choice voting and first-past-the-post elimination.
He frames political parties as power-accumulation vehicles rather than problem-solvers, arguing that only structural change — not candidate loyalty — will fix a "crumbling" two-party system.
Listeners can follow Madrid's ongoing analysis on his Substack newsletter, The Great Transformation.
