S1 E2: Why Are Truly Independent Politicians So Rare?

Host Lisa Singer and co-hosts Leyla Gullen and Bryan Gallo examine the enormous barriers facing independent political candidates in a system dominated by the two major parties. Despite Independents being America’s largest voting bloc, true independent officeholders are nearly extinct, with only 25 out of 7,386 state legislative seats and zero in the U.S. House. We explore the legacies of Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, the “spoiler” risk, and how Andrew Yang’s Forward Party is pushing ranked-choice voting and open primaries to give voters real choices. Chapters (00:00:00) - Title Sequence(00:00:44) - Seinfeld Clip – Kramer asks, “What’s the deal with politics?”(00:00:58) - Intro by Lisa, Bryan, and Leyla – the rarity of independent politicians(00:02:55) - Ross Perot's Presidential Bid (1992 Clip)(00:05:44) - Bernie Sanders Presidential Bid (montage)(00:07:03) - Bernie Sanders on Joe Rogan to discuss the minimum wage (clip)(00:08:25) - Angus King explains that most Maine voters are unenrolled (clip)(00:09:40) - The Statehouse Scarcity(00:10:05) - Andrew Yang makes the case for universal basic income (clip)(00:11:15) - Andrew Yang, The Forward Party, and Local Wins(00:11:42) - Andrew Yang makes the case for the Forward Party (clip)(00:14:20) - The Barrier: Sore Loser Laws & Party Flipping(00:14:24) - NYC 2025 Mayoral Race, Cuomo and Adams switching to independent (clip)(00:15:22) - Is the Two-Party System in the Constitution?(00:18:00) - Steve Kornacki on how independents vote (clip)(00:19:15) - RFK Jr. flips to independent in the 2024 election (clip)(00:20:47) - Unaffiliated independent voters explain why (clip)(00:24:19) - The best reform ideas for independents (clip)(00:26:26) - Andrew Yang is our independent hero of the week(00:26:59) - Independent Hero: Andrew Yang's TED Talk