July 10, 2025
Hi everyone — it’s been quite a week and I wanted to give you a quick tour of some happenings that will inspire and pique your curiosity.
First up — my colleague John Opdycke, the President of Open Primaries has a terrific editorial in The Hill this week: Independents should embrace the moment and lean into their power. You are going to want to take a minute to read about all the ways independents are impacting on national politics.
Next up in New York City independents are driving both the left and the right crazy as hundreds of of us have been showing up at hearings of the Charter Revision Commission to ask for the primaries to be open so 1.1 million New Yorkers can vote in elections that are publicly funded. Take a look at some of what the New York Times has been writing about this fight:
Stay tuned, the Charter Revision Commission is going to decide later this month whether to put a proposal for open primaries on the ballot this November.
Yup, that’s me with some of the independents who testified at the hearing on Monday.
And in case you missed it, check out this video we made of independents protesting the closed primaries across New York State in June.
And then there is Texas where the Republican Party is planning to sue the state of Texas to close the primaries and lock out independents! The lawsuit is stirring up lots of discussion about why the state should pay for a private party’s primary. Good question! Check out this great debate on Fox News Houston, where they declare closed primaries to be “political welfare.”
Something that I have been mulling all week is the fact that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party in New York City and the conservative wing of the Republican Party in Texas have one thing in common — their utter disdain for independent voters and their desire to have closed primaries. Worth thinking about that!
Spokesperson Training for Independents
On a final note — my colleague Gwen Mandell, the Director of Leadership Development at Open Primaries runs a fabulous Spokesperson Training for independents. The program helps independents across the country develop our voice and skills. She has started to take applications for the fall training which is in October and the spaces are already filling up. If you would like to learn more about the training or would like to register, send Gwen a note at gmandell@openprimaries.org.
