Independent Voter Podcast

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Independent Veterans of America and now the face of a growing independent-veteran movement, just became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against New York State's closed primary system, and he's joined by his attorney (and IVP host) Chad Peace to explain why.

Rieckhoff tells the personal story that pushed him into this fight: walking his kids to their New York City public school on primary day and having to explain to his seven-year-old why dad, a combat veteran and 9/11 first responder, isn't allowed to vote. Chad, Cara McCormick, and Shawn Griffiths connect that story to the bigger picture, including how Zohran Mamdani's administration and the Democratic Socialists of America have blocked open primary reform through New York's Charter Revision Commission, and how Texas Republicans are now trying to close their own primaries for the opposite partisan reason. 

Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

To sign on to the New York lawsuit, go to https://letvetsvote.org You can learn more about his organization, Independent Veterans of America, at https://independentveteransofamerica.org and find his own show, Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff, at https://www.IndependentAmericans.us.

Chapters:

0:00 The Veteran Who Can't Vote – Suing New York

2:25 From the GI Bill to Independent Veterans of America

4:47 45% and Growing – Why Independents Won't Build a Party

7:12 In New York, the Primary Is the Whole Ballgame

9:17 "Dad, How Come You Can't Vote?" – New York as the Beachhead

11:29 What You Can Actually Do – LetVetsVote

13:42 The Real Spoilers – How the DSA Slammed the Door

16:04 The Parties Did This to Themselves – The Charter Revision Fight

18:18 Shame Them Into Action – The Full Spectrum Fight

21:09 Demographics Is Destiny – The Future Is Independent

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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.

Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00 – Trump and Mamdani at Gracie Mansion

02:52 – Katherine Gehl and the Incentive to Be Extreme

05:17 – The Same Closed Primary Playbook, Left and Right

07:19 – How DSA and MAGA Captured Their Parties

09:50 – Prop 50, Valadao, and the Cows They Cut Out

14:11 – Announcement: Suing Over New York's Closed Primaries

16:24 – Citizenship or Party Membership?

18:28 – Alaska's Ballot Measure 2 and the Dark Money Ad

21:18 – AI, Tomatoes, and a Super PAC Run by Bots

24:52 – VoterCount.ai and Sign-Off

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California's top-two primary was built for exactly this moment: DSA-backed Democrats facing off against the party's moderate wing in front of the entire electorate, not just a partisan base. The man who wrote that law, former state senator Steve Peace, joins Cara McCormick to break down whether his system is working the way he designed it.

Steve Peace, author of California's top-two primary, walks through the wave of Democrat-on-Democrat races reshaping the state, including Orange County's AD68 fight between DSA-recommended Jesse Lopez and moderate David Penaloza (who finished the primary within a thousand votes of each other) and the South Bay's AD66 battle between Paul Seo, known for his weekly town-hall "coffee klatches," and DSA-backed Sara Dean. Peace argues these races are the real test of nonpartisan primaries, since Republicans and independents, not just Democratic insiders, now get a say in who wins. He digs into why "moderate" candidates often struggle to define a positive agenda, cites polling showing a striking share of Democrats say they'd back a candidate their own party did NOT endorse, and lays out his core argument that partisan primaries, not the parties themselves, are the root cause of Congress's dysfunction.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

0:00 – Why Four Democrat vs. Democrat Races Matter

2:28 – Top Two Sends Both Democrats to a Bigger Electorate

4:59 – Orange County, Muddy Platforms and What Are You For

8:59 – Where Progressive Came From and Why Finality Is Anti-Democratic

11:28 – AD66 and the Case for Listening Over Talking

15:26 – Why Republicans Might Vote for DSA Candidates

18:43 – A Third of Democrats Skip the Party's Pick

22:01 – Fear, AI Panic and Solving Everything in a Week

25:56 – Partisan Primaries Are the Problem

31:46 – The Imperial Presidency and a Congress That Stopped Legislating

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fight over President Trump’s mail-in voting rule continues to escalate: a whistleblower leak says just one bad envelope could get an entire batch of mail ballots sent back, threatening to derail elections in states that already have ballots prepared for the midterms.

Chad, Shawn, and Ethan dig into the real mechanics of the USPS rule now tied up in its third round of injunctions, from the barcode and voter-list requirements to the states'-rights argument that could ultimately doom it at the Supreme Court. From there they connect the dots to Missouri, where the state Supreme Court just forced officials back to the old 2022 congressional map for the general election after a last-minute Secretary of State maneuver blew up. The conversation pivots to Fareed Zakaria's new mainstream case for opening up primaries to independents, and why Chad thinks "imperial presidency" might be the wrong label for what's really going on. They close out with California's messiest primary fights, where Democratic Socialists and moderate Democrats are battling it out and independent voters could decide who wins, plus a quick note on San Francisco Democrats voting down their own billionaire tax.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 Trump's Mail Ballot Order – What Voters Are Actually Hearing

00:02:56 Barcodes, Batches – What the New USPS Rule Requires

00:07:47 Federalizing Elections – Should Republicans Want This?

00:10:09 One Bad Actor Can Affect Fifty States

00:12:29 States Are Already Setting Their Own Mail Rules

00:15:23 Curious Timing – Missouri and the Last Minute Map Fight

00:18:50 Fareed Zakaria Catches Up to the Primary Problem

00:21:25 Imperial Presidency or Populist Presidency?

00:25:46 Independence Is a Mindset, Not an Ideology

00:28:09 DSA vs. Moderate Democrats – Independents Decide California

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the polls said two Republicans might take the top two spots, California Democratic Party leadership went to work getting Democrats out of the governor's race. Antonio Villaraigosa was one of them. He said no - and he says the whole thing left a black mark on the party.

The first Latino mayor of Los Angeles, former Speaker of the California Assembly, and recent candidate for governor sits down with the Independent Voter Podcast and doesn't flinch. He walks through the pressure campaign on himself, Xavier Becerra, Tony Thurmond and Betty Yee, why he never believed the two-Republican scenario for a single second, and what it says about a party that spent its money on polls instead of turnout. Along the way he goes after the $40 trillion national debt, the Pentagon's $1.5 trillion budget ask, and tax cuts he says the country can't afford - plus why he thinks independence is a mindset, not a party registration.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – One of Them Is Going to Be Governor

00:00:28 – If You Want to Be Loved, Get a Dog

00:01:55 – $40 Trillion and the Cost of War

00:04:09 – Missing Obama and a Distorted Economy

00:05:11 – Independence Is a Mindset, Not a Party

00:07:40 – The Pressure to Get Out of the Race

00:09:53 – The Chair Was Wrong and It Cost Them

00:12:34 – Voter ID, Prop 39 and the SAVE Act

00:14:27 – Punished for Not Joining a Party

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump just handed the Postal Service veto power over your mail-in ballot, and Chad and Cara can't agree on whether that's chaos, overreach, or both. This episode, the crew untangles what the USPS's new ballot rule actually does, why the Supreme Court's ruling this week is more limited than the headlines suggest, and why Cara thinks Republicans are abandoning their own Tenth Amendment principles to get it.

From there, the conversation shifts to California, where a new constitutional amendment, ACA 24, could guarantee every voter regardless of party the right to participate in publicly funded elections, and where Cara lays out exactly how Democratic and Republican operatives quietly teamed up to try to kill the state's open-primary system after record-breaking turnout. The hosts also dig into the Pentagon's firing of Stars and Stripes' editor-in-chief and a Middle East reporter after they defended the paper's editorial independence, a First Amendment fight with deep roots in military history. Stick around for the final few minutes, where a resurfaced 2013 courthouse video turns into one of the pettier storylines of the Texas Senate race.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00 – What the USPS Ballot Rule Actually Says

02:28 – Where Are the Tenth Amendment Conservatives?

05:06 – The Supreme Court Didn't Do What You Think

08:13 – Hyperbole vs. Real Risk to Your Ballot

10:49 – Take a Breath, the Rule Isn't in Force

14:24 – California's New Right to Vote Amendment

17:50 – Colluding to Lock Out 6 Million Voters

23:08 – What ACA 24 Would Actually Guarantee

29:36 – The Pentagon Fires Stars and Stripes

33:04 – Ken Paxton, Closed Primaries, and a Stolen Pen

 

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anne Dunsmore has been in the room for nearly 50 years of American politics, and it all started because she lost a bet in a D.C. bar.

She sits down with Chad Peace and Cara McCormick to tell her story: working the floor with James Baker and Margaret Tutwiler on George H.W. Bush's 1980 campaign, turning around Pete Wilson's reelection from what she calls an "Exxon Valdez" moment, and raising $1.2 billion alongside Michael Ovitz to rebuild UCLA after the Northridge earthquake. Along the way she talks fundraising for Muhammad Ali, being one of the only women in rooms full of "cavemen," and why she never needed to be an ideologue to be effective. By the end, Chad and Cara land on the idea that independent thinkers aren't just riding the tide of American politics, they're the disruption itself.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

0:00 – Independence of Mindset, Not Ideology

2:17 – I Lost a Bet in a Bar

4:18 – Upstairs to Where Jim Baker Was Sitting

6:42 – Oregon, Then California for Good

9:03 – Scheduler or Fundraiser: What They Let Women Do

11:25 – In the Room, With an Opinion

13:44 – Angel Force and the Number Nobody Believes

16:08 – One Suicide Changes 135 Lives

18:19 – The Disconnect Between Leadership and Reality

20:59 – We're the Rogue Wave

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

IVP's own producer just became a U.S. citizen, and she's sitting down with Chad and Cara to talk about what it actually took, and what it felt like the moment she finally got to register to vote.

Lina Alvarez walks Chad and Cara through her path from a marriage-based green card to studying all 128 U.S. civics questions to passing her citizenship test this month, including the multi-year "removal of conditions" process most Americans never hear about.  She describes how the naturalization process changed under the second Trump administration, including processing delays, lost visibility into her case, and a tense moment of being pulled aside for extra document checks at the U.S. border. From there, Chad connects her story to the data driving IVP's coverage all year: nearly 650,000 No Party Preference voters who had never cast a ballot in an off-year primary turned out this cycle, an unprecedented surge. The conversation turns personal and sharper when Cara adds her own gut-punch comparison and a story about a sitting California state senator who still carries her passport everywhere just in case. 

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:20 – Lina, our Producer Steps Out From Behind the Camera

00:01:40 – Mastery of 128 Questions: The Civics Exam Journey

00:02:43 – Marriage-Based Paths and the Long "Removal of Conditions" Wait

00:04:48 – Analyzing the Surge of Latino Participation in California

00:05:51 – A New Voter’s Dilemma: Party Choice and Independence

00:07:24 – Immediate Registration: The Unique California Experience

00:09;23 – Mobilizing 650,000 NPP Voters through IVP’s Massive Outreach

00:19;05 – Navigating Processing Delays and Visibility Gaps Under Trump

00:21:30 – Tense Encounters: Pulled Aside for Extra Border Checks

00:28:39 – More Choice California Gains LA Times Front-Page Spotlight

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rick Bennett climbed to the top of Maine's Republican Party - President of the Senate - and now he's running for governor without a party at all. His reasoning is blunt: the parties themselves are a major reason government stopped working.

Chad and Cara sit down with the independent candidate for Governor of Maine to talk about why a lifelong Republican with the credentials to play the party game decided to walk away from it. Rick lays out Maine's affordability crisis, the endorsements rolling in from Republicans, Democrats and independents alike, and why he thinks the "spoiler" question is the wrong argument entirely. From there it goes places most election-reform conversations don't: no-bid contracts, a state auditor's report on MaineCare violations, spending up nearly 80% in a decade, and a legislature that hasn't held a public hearing on the budget in six years. Then Cara and Rick get into the federal lawsuit they're both intervening in - and what the other side actually argued out loud in front of the First Circuit.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:45 – Full Disclosure: Why Chad Broke His Own Rule

00:01:47 – Rick Bennett: From Republican Senate President to Independent Candidate

00:03:25 – Maine's Political Tradition & The Affordability Crisis

00:04:47 – Cara's Origin Story: How the Spoiler Problem Led Her to RCV

00:06:20 – Independent Governors in Maine: It's Been Done Before

00:08:03 – Spoiling for Whom? The Whole System Is Corrupt

00:09:48 – Beyond RCV: Inspector General, No-Bid Contracts & the Public Purse

00:13:19 – Should the Secretary of State Be Nonpartisan?

00:15:32 – Super PAC Reform & The First Circuit Court Fight

00:19:35 – The California Initiative That Could Work in Maine Too

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elon Musk just quietly put $1.5 million behind a network aimed at killing Alaska's top-four open primary. The kicker: the same measure would repeal the transparency law that let anyone find out he paid for it.

Then the crew digs into Musk's money in Alaska: who's really behind the repeal, why MAGA wants Alaska's system gone, and why Chad argues closed primaries are voter suppression on a scale that dwarfs every voter ID fight in the country. Cara's back from the California Politico Agenda Summit in Sacramento with a Nancy Pelosi scoop about what she actually told Joe Biden before he dropped out - and Chad refuses to let Pelosi off the hook. Along the way: a New York poll where a third of Democrats admit they're not really Democrats and Abdul El-Sayed's viral shot at John Fetterman. 

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

0:00 Elon Musk & Alaska's Open Primary

1:03 Welcome Back & Cara's Sacramento Recap

4:19 Chad's Take: Pelosi Ripping Trump's Speech

6:42 Musk, the Aurora Network & Alaska's Primary Fight

10:15 The Case Against Closed Primaries

14:01 New York's Primary Fight & the NAACP Clash

18:05 Abdul El-Sayed, Fetterman & "Electability by Looks"

23:13 Trump, Musk & Gerrymandering: The Devil's Advocate

24:45 Trump's Secret Plane Switch & Congrats to Lina

28:29 Wrap-Up & Where to Follow the Show

 

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.