Win or lose, independent candidates want to meet voters in the middle

These days, Seth Haskin often puts on a puff-sleeved linen shirt under an 18th century waistcoat, breeches fastened just below the knee, long socks and buckle shoes that make a distinctive clip-clop when he walks.

The outfit is meant to remind people of the Founding Fathers and evoke their idea of limited government, which the 26-year-old supports.

Haskin's day job is managing his family's coffee shop business but this year he's been vying for another position: independent congressional representative for Southwest Florida. While campaigning, Haskin also carries an old-school bell.

"Getting their [people's] attention is the biggest battle that most candidates have," Haskin said. "But especially independent or no party candidates."

Some could dismiss Haskin's attire as a stunt, and they may write off other independent candidates the same way. Sarah Zabel, 61, an independent candidate for Idaho's western district, said that view is outdated.

"Independents used to be a curiosity or a protest or a single issue," said Zabel. "Now, with the parties having gone to such extremes, independents are the necessary relief for the American voter."

At a time when 45 percent of adults identify as political independents — a record high — and just a handful of tight races will decide control of Congress, the 173 independents running for the House this fall will test how big the political middle really is, and whether people who identify as independents will vote for one.

Despite the significant chunk of Americans identifying as independents, right now just one independent serves in the House: Kevin Kiley. The congressman whose newly redrawn California district leans Democratic, switched from Republican to independent while in Congress and continues to caucus with Republicans, reported Politico.

Some candidates said they were always independent, others said their political beliefs didn't change, but their parties did. While some are confident about winning, others said even a double-digit share of the vote will show both parties that it's time for change.

Providing an alternative 

Zabel, who is running in a deep-red district in Idaho, describes herself as a "heritage Republican," or someone who used to be a Republican and adheres to conservative values. But since 2018, during the first Trump administration, she stopped feeling in line with the Republican party and the "MAGA program."

The retired Air Force major general said she didn't feel represented by either party, and she soon learned that many of her neighbors felt the same way.

"That's why I decided that I would step forward and be a candidate from the center," Zabel said. "Idaho is more Republican than Democrat, it is more conservative than not. But the extremes you see, they are a minority."

The Cook Political Report rates the district, which voted for Trump by a 45-point landslide in 2024, as solid Republican for the incumbent, Rep. Russ Fulcher.

Zabel, who noted that she would not caucus with either party if in Congress, recognizes that the Democratic nominee narrows her path to victory, but Zabel sees value "in showing Idaho and showing the country that we aren't the MAGA stronghold."

In Colorado, Shimon Blau, a lifelong independent, did not intend to run for Congress. Until Melat Kiros, 29, won the Democratic nomination for the state's 1st Congressional District, which encompasses the solidly Democratic city of Denver.

"I was deeply disturbed by the results of the primaries in which our 30-year incumbent, Diana DeGette, was beat by a member of the Democratic Socialists of America," he said. "I was offended and bothered by [Kiros'] past antisemitic rhetoric, as well as a lot of her socialist beliefs."

Kiros faced wide criticism in June for declining to describe a 2025 fatal firebombing attack on Jewish activists in Boulder, Colo., as antisemitic. Blau, the Denver-based physician, received an endorsement from The Denver Gazette on Oct. 6; it described him as the "candidate of conscience."

Kiros' upset of DeGette propelled Blau to swiftly gather the 1,500 signatures he needed to be eligible to run as an independent. Blau believes that in a city as blue as Denver, Republicans are "more of the message candidate than independents," with the latter having a real chance at winning.

"I think there's a lot of disillusionment right now with both parties," he said. "It seems like both of our traditional parties are leaning more and more towards the extremes."

Seth Haskin from Florida is also running in a district where one party has dominated for years. Trump won at least 60 percent of the vote in the past two presidential elections in Haskin's district, and local media mogul Jim Schwartzel won a tight and crowded Republican primary in August with almost 30 percent of the vote.

A "strict constitutionalist," Haskin, who previously also ran for governor of Wisconsin as a write-in candidate, said he could've seen himself in either party before the Covid-19 pandemic, before he believed that both parties had been "captured by the same industry leaders and PAC money and foreign lobbies and everything else."

Now, he's running as an independent because he thinks voters are ready for a change.

"Even if I don't win, if I can get double-digit percentage points as an independent candidate, I will get a lot of phone calls from both parties," he said. "It's going to threaten the duopoly that they have, right?"

Independents in swing districts

In competitive swing districts like Iowa's 1st and states with ranked-choice voting like Alaska, independents aren't campaigning on the idea that both parties have gone too far, but that neither is delivering.

Businessman Michael Bridgford is running as an independent against Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Christina Bohannan, the Democratic nominee and former state representative.

The Cook Political Report, which long had the race as a toss-up, recently rated the district as lean Democratic.

Bridgford said people are tired of the "dysfunction" from both parties and by watching Miller-Meeks and Bohannan compete, and they believe that independents can provide the stable center that will let the government solve problems.

Running in a swing district has some advantages for independents.

"People are more independent minded. It's not gerrymandered to one side," Bridgford said. "People are more middle of the road and so there's naturally more attraction to this type of campaign."

The challenge is competing against the money that parties typically pour into a competitive district, he said.

In Alaska, even though voters have almost always picked the Republican presidential nominee, their streak of independence has allowed independents and Democratic nominees to win statewide races.

Bill Hill, a commercial fisherman who said he registered as an independent when he was 18, has decided to take his chances in Alaska's at-large congressional race, rated as a likely Republican win. Hill said, like many other Alaskans, he doesn't fit into a political box.

"People who are registered Republicans often have some progressive viewpoints and people registered as Democrats may have more conservative viewpoints as well," he said. "Alaskans just don't toe a political line with every vote."

Like other independents, Hill lauds that independents can work for their constituents without worrying about leadership in Washington. He's competing against the Republican incumbent Nick Begich, the Democratic nominee Eric Hafner and Jim McDermott, a Libertarian.

Hill, who was about 12 points behind Begich in the primary, also has an offer of support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to Anchorage Daily News.

Independent candidates throughout the country are running for a variety of reasons and facing challenges including fundraising and finding debate platforms with party candidates, but what unites them and keeps them going is their belief in the power of the moderate middle.

"When you talk to enough people and they're all moderate and everybody they know is moderate, but they believe everybody they don't know must be right wing," said Sarah Zabel, the independent candidate from Idaho. "You see that it's just an illusion. And we can bust that illusion."