All day on Election Day, the national press will frame every conversation in terms of “Red vs. Blue.” Will the US see a blue wave? Or is it a red undertow? Will Republicans defy the polls? Will the US Senate flip to Democratic control based on historic races in Texas, Alaska, Michigan, or Maine?
On IVN, we endeavor to go beyond this narrow partisan perspective and beyond the two-party coverage. From November 2 to November 4, IVN will provide the nation’s only independent live discussion of the midterm elections.
Here is what our readers and listeners can expect:
1. National Races Where Independents Will Decide
We will discuss names like James Talarico, Ken Paxton, Abdul El-Sayed, Mike Rogers, Troy Jackson, and Susan Collins. But we'll do so in the context that independent voters will choose whoever wins a majority in the US Senate and House.
Miss our predictions for these races? Check them out.
MIDTERMS: Will Talarico Take TEXAS? El-Sayed v. Rogers, Collins v. Jackson | EP65
Because the real story in Texas isn’t that it could flip from red to blue. The real story is it is actually a purple state in which 2.7 million independent voters will decide if Talarico wins the Senate race and if Gov. Greg Abbott keeps his office.
10 Congressional Races Where Independent Voters Will Decide the Winner
2. National Election Reform Measures
While Texas Republican leaders want to shut independent voters out of primary elections, in Massachusetts, both major parties oppose Question 3, which would give every voter the freedom to choose any candidate in the primaries they want, regardless of party.
This is a state where 60% of legislative races went uncontested in this year’s general election.
Follow IVN as we track the dozen fronts where reformers are fighting to give citizens more choice, protect their voting rights, empower their decisions, and bring fairness and accountability to a system designed to benefit two private political corporations.
3. Where Independent Candidates Are Competitive
Readers will hear names like Dan Osborn, Bill Hill, Seth Bodnar, and other independent candidates IVN author Matt Shinners has covered over the past year, defying the narrative that candidates outside the two major parties are nothing more than “spoilers.”
The Working-Class Independent Is Popular in Polls. Winning Takes Two More Things
4. California’s 10 Races Where Independents Will Decide
The impact independent voters will have on this election cannot be trivialized.
In California, more than 5.3 million independent voters will decide the fate of a voter ID initiative, a billionaire tax, and how much influence the DSA really has in Democratic-controlled districts.
Will Republicans Skip Democrat on Democrat Races?
Mainstream outlets won’t focus much on California because Democrat Xavier Becerra is expected to beat Republican Steve Hilton by double digits in the governor’s race. But California may offer more nuanced insight into where the national electoral landscape is headed.
That's because of the state’s nonpartisan election model, which doesn’t force voters to pick a party to vote. When independent voters have the freedom, the motivation, and incentive to participate, their numbers surge.
We saw it in California’s Top Two primary this year, and we are seeing it across the country in general elections they will decide.
Be sure to check back regularly for more election updates on IVN from an independent perspective. We will provide voter data from VoterCount.ai, analysis, and facts about the independent vote that can’t be found anywhere else.
On Election Night, between 6-8 p.m. PST, we will be live, breaking it all down with independent expert analysis.