Seth Bodnar, Dan Osborn, and Brian Bengs keep getting asked if they’re REALLY independent.
It makes sense that Americans would be confused about the three independent Senate candidates in Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota — respectively. The only independents currently in the Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, caucus with Democrats.
Parties control which lawmakers get to sit on important committees and which bills come to the floor. Not playing within the system can make it harder to get legislation passed, receive funding for your state, or ensure that your policies are included in a larger bill, so independents often choose one side or the other.
But Bodnar, Osborn, Bengs and a handful of other independent candidates around the country are trying something new this year: win, and then refuse to pick a side.
“We’re trying to do something that’s not been done before,” Bengs said during a virtual press conference I attended on Monday. “We’re going to figure out how we can do this without falling in as a foot soldier for either Team Red or Team Blue.”
A record number of Americans identified as politically independent in 2025: 45 percent, according to Gallup. At the same time, the Democratic and Republican Parties are experiencing record lows in popular support. A Pew Research Center poll conducted between September 28 and October 4 showed that 61 percent of Americans view the Republican Party unfavorably, while 58 percent view the Democratic Party unfavorably.
The growing interest in independents and disillusionment with the two-party system has inspired the creation of new groups, like the Independent Center and the associated Independent Leadership Council, two nonprofit organizations working alongside a political action committee, Independent PAC, to get more independents to Congress.
“It’s now a government of the party, by the party, and for the party,” former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat-turned-independent, said in a September interview with The Contrarian. Manchin is one of the founders of Independent Leadership Council. “The parties aren’t going to change. They’re doing quite well with their business model. They’re very happy with the outcomes that they’re getting.”
Independent candidates are running competitive races nationwide. In addition to Bodnar, Bengs, and Osborn, there’s former state legislator Todd Achilles in Idaho, who has forced Republicans to invest more to protect GOP Sen. Jim Risch. Others are running for the House of Representatives. Rep. Kevin Kiley in CA-06, for example, left the GOP last year and has pledged not to caucus with them if he wins his race. He’s joined by Chris Getty in IL-04, Michael Bridgford in IA-01, and Bill Hill in Alaska’s at-large district.
Kiley, Getty, and Bridgford are all backed by the Independent Center, which plans to spend around $20 million by November, according to Brandon. IC has put nearly $1 million in the CA-06 race in support of Kiley to date, about $150K in IA-01 in support of Bridgford and just over $260K in IL-04 in support of Getty, according to independent expenditure filings. IC also backed an unsuccessful independent primary challenger in Washington’s first district, home of DCCC chair Rep. Suzan DelBene. The lion’s share of the IC’s funding, though — to the tune of nearly $5.7 million — has gone to back Bodnar in Montana.
Not all independent candidates have pledged to remain fully independent, if elected. Hill has refused to answer questions about whether he’ll caucus with either party — calling it “important leverage” in a June interview. It’s one of the reasons he is not endorsed by or financially supported by the IC, which requires the candidates it backs to pledge they will not caucus with either party.
In 2026, independents also face an unexpected challenge: Democrats commandeering their message.
Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, for example, was a top early target from the IC. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks was elected on her fourth attempt, and Democratic former state Rep. Christina Bohannan is challenging Miller-Meeks for the third time. It was one of the closest races in the country in 2024, but the exact same candidates were expected to face off for a third time, and the Independent Center saw an opening. They recruited Michael Bridgford, who grew up on a farm in the district, to offer voters a third option.
But then, tariffs, beef imports, and diesel prices sent Miller-Meeks’s approval plummeting while Democratic candidate Christina Bohannan leaned in hard on her long-held positions against corporate money in politics and stock trading by members of Congress, policies that are popular among the growing anti-partyism sentiment.
“The reason I’m running has nothing to do really, fundamentally, with Republican versus Democrat,” Bohannan said during a campaign stop that I attended in Sigourney, Iowa, in late September. “That argument, that debate, that feels a little old and tired to me at this point.”
Bohannan is not the only Democrat using overtly independent language on the trail. Kansan Adam Hamilton considered running for Senate as an independent before ultimately choosing to run as a Democrat, and talks regularly on the trail about how both parties offer good things. And Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, a breakout star of these midterms, openly tells voters he first registered as an independent and promises to reform his state’s primary system.
“I understand that I got a D behind my name, but that doesn’t mean that I have to leave my independent mind behind,” Sand said during a gaggle with reporters that I attended ahead of a town hall in Cedar Rapids, IA. He runs as a Democrat because of “the special legal privileges of the Democratic and Republican parties,” he added.
The success of independent-minded Democrats, however, has undercut the actual independents. Democrats and Republicans have, at many times over the years, claimed independence from their party — but groups like the Independent Center and ILC argue that once the overwhelming anti-partyism anger that inspired these candidates to act more independently subsides, most elected officials typically fall back in line with the national party agenda over their own districts. That cycle then perpetuates until voters get fed up again.
IC and ILC want to break that cycle permanently and give voters candidates who will never be pushed and prodded by a national party agenda or party apparatus. These groups feel that Democrats are leaning into a message this year that most will not follow through with long-term.
“Frustrating is not the word,” Independent Center co-founder Adam Brandon said, joking that four-letter words come to mind. But, he adds, “It’s the winning message … we saw all this, we knew all this.”
Brandon said they need to win just one or two seats this year, comparing that to Americans winning the Battle of Saratoga, which prompted France to jump into the American Revolution on the side of the U.S. Similarly, one or two wins can “prove the point” and increase fundraising for future races.
“Some people I’ve talked to said that we’re still too early. We need to let this ruminate for a few years before we win,” Brandon said. “Maybe that is the case, but I don’t think we’ve got time as a country.”
