Independent Voter Podcast

Olas Media
Olas Media
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

Tired of being told what to think by partisan gatekeepers? So are we.The Independent Voter Podcast brings you conversations that challenge the two-party echo chamber and reject the false binaries dominating today’s political narratives. We focus on two things: (1) Election reforms that increase real competition and voter choice, and (2) Policy issues that defy the black-and-white frameworks set by national party agendas. We’ve been called everything: liberals, undercover Republicans, progressives, socialists, libertarians—even anarchists. And depending on the article, they’re all true.We are open to any voice that follows our simple etiquette. If you believe political independence is a mindset, not a middle ground, you’re in the right place.This the Independent Voter Podcast..

  1. 1d ago

    The Democratic Party Told Him To DROP OUT. He Said No. (Antonio Villaraigosa) - EP57

    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.

    The Democratic Party Told Him To DROP OUT. He Said No. (Antonio Villaraigosa) - EP57

  2. Aug 27

    The TRUTH About Trump’s New USPS Ballot Rule (It’s Complicated) - EP56

    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.

    The TRUTH About Trump’s New USPS Ballot Rule (It’s Complicated) - EP56

  3. Aug 24

    From Bartender to Bush’s War Room & 50 Years in GOP Politics (Anne Dunsmore) - EP55

    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.

    From Bartender to Bush’s War Room & 50 Years in GOP Politics (Anne Dunsmore) - EP55

  4. Aug 20

    Border Patrol STOPPED Her: Becoming a US Citizen LEGALLY is Harder Than Ever - EP54

    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.

    Border Patrol STOPPED Her: Becoming a US Citizen LEGALLY is Harder Than Ever - EP54

  5. Aug 18

    Why Rick Bennett Left the GOP to Run for Governor of Maine (NOT What You Think) - EP53

    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.

    Why Rick Bennett Left the GOP to Run for Governor of Maine (NOT What You Think) - EP53

  6. Aug 13

    Elon Musk's $1.5 Million Attack on Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska - EP52

    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.

    Elon Musk's $1.5 Million Attack on Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska - EP52

  7. Aug 6

    Missouri Voters Crushed a Partisan Power Grab - the State Blocked Them Anyway - EP51

    Missouri voters showed up and shut down the legislature's attempt to gut citizen initiatives - and then, hours before polls closed, the Secretary of State went in front of a camera and declared their 300,000-signature people's veto unconstitutional anyway. Cara McCormick, Ethan Handelman, and Shawn Griffiths break down what actually happened in Missouri: the legislature's repeat attempts to raise thresholds and choke off petition drives, the mid-cycle gerrymander that made Missouri the third state to redraw its maps in 2025, and the pile-on that followed — a third of signatures thrown out, an ICE referral aimed at petition circulators, a Black Friday mass text campaign, and a map that never got suspended the way the law says it should. From there it's the DNC's August 15 vote to bar ranked choice voting from the delegate process, a Maine primary where 72% of voters picked a nominee the party swapped out anyway, and the case for a mandatory retirement age that applies to everyone on the taxpayer's dime (inspired by Mitch McConnell’s 50 day Senate absence).  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 – Missouri Voters Reject the Legislature's Power Grab 00:05:06 – People Not Politicians vs. Secretary Hoskins 00:09:07 – The DNC's War on Ranked Choice Voting 00:14:12 – How Parties Override Their Own Primaries 00:17:36 – Mitch McConnell, Age Limits & Term Limits 00:21:17 – Trump's Poll Numbers & Truth Social Pay-to-Play 00:25:14 – Two-Thirds of Americans Don't Trust Elections 00:28:03 – Elon Musk's $120M Super PAC Midterm Bet 00:30:32 – Maine's Question 1: Capping Super PAC Contributions 00:35:16 – Money Equals Speech? The Supreme Court's Call Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Missouri Voters Crushed a Partisan Power Grab - the State Blocked Them Anyway - EP51

  8. Jul 30

    27 Years in Uniform, Now Running Against BOTH Parties in Oregon (Jason Faler) - EP50

    A 27-year Army officer with three deployments looked at Congress and decided the problem wasn't which party was winning - it was that both of them were. So Jason Faler is running in Oregon's 6th with no letter behind his name.Jason walks us through the road from four-generation Oregonian to combat tours in Baghdad and the Horn of Africa to healthcare administrator and professor - and the "frog in the boiling water" moment that finally pushed him to run. He lays out the number almost nobody in Oregon knows: unaffiliated voters went from 22% of the electorate in 2012 to roughly 40% today, which means the largest voting bloc in his district belongs to no party at all. We get into why so many veterans end up in nonpartisan reform, why he won't just run in a primary and take the easy path, and what it actually costs to get on a ballot when your two opponents ran unopposed.  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 – The Parties Are the Problem 00:00:37 – Meet Jason Faler 00:03:17 – What Pulled Him Into Politics 00:07:04 – Independent by Conviction, Not by Default 00:08:28 – From Iraq to Oregon – Why He's Running 00:11:55 – Veterans, the Military & Political Independence 00:15:03 – The Barriers to Running as an Independent 00:19:03 – Clipboard Democracy in the Digital Age 00:24:29 – When Elections Become Auctions 00:27:15 – The Largest Voting Bloc Nobody Knows About Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    27 Years in Uniform, Now Running Against BOTH Parties in Oregon (Jason Faler) - EP50
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About

Tired of being told what to think by partisan gatekeepers? So are we.The Independent Voter Podcast brings you conversations that challenge the two-party echo chamber and reject the false binaries dominating today’s political narratives. We focus on two things: (1) Election reforms that increase real competition and voter choice, and (2) Policy issues that defy the black-and-white frameworks set by national party agendas. We’ve been called everything: liberals, undercover Republicans, progressives, socialists, libertarians—even anarchists. And depending on the article, they’re all true.We are open to any voice that follows our simple etiquette. If you believe political independence is a mindset, not a middle ground, you’re in the right place.This the Independent Voter Podcast..

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