Operatives Say Ai Could Crack The Two Party System Msn

Leo Migdal

-Dec 12, 2025, 10:18 AM

operatives say ai could crack the two party system msn

The Independent Center is using AI to identify congressional districts where independent candidates could win over the Democratic or Republican candidate. Its goal is to elect at least a handful of independents to disrupt the two-party system on Capitol Hill. Glenn Harvey for NPR hide caption The rise of AI assistants is rewriting the rhythms of everyday life: People are feeding their blood test results into chatbots, turning to ChatGPT for advice on their love lives and leaning on AI... Now, one organization suggests artificial intelligence can go beyond making daily life more convenient. It says it's the key to reshaping American politics.

"Without AI, what we're trying to do would be impossible," explained Adam Brandon, a senior adviser at the Independent Center, a nonprofit that studies and engages with independent voters. The goal is to elect a handful of independent candidates to the House of Representatives in 2026, using AI to identify districts where independents could succeed and uncover diamond in the rough candidates. Your energy bill might be climbing thanks to AI, but the technology could also offer a surprising upside: a way out of our political duopoly. That's the view from the Independent Center, a nonprofit focused on independent voters. In the US, registering as an "independent" has long felt more symbolic than practical. The two major parties have held a stranglehold on politics for over a century.

Yet, the Independent Center believes AI is the key to finally shaking things up. The group is using artificial intelligence to analyze data and identify congressional districts where independent voters are a major force. "Without AI, what we're trying to do would be impossible," senior advisor Adam Brandon told NPR. This data-driven approach finds the cracks in the system where a third voice might actually break through. The analysis has already flagged 40 House seats that don't fit a hyper-partisan profile. The organization aims to establish 10 independent candidates by spring, with a goal of winning at least five of those seats.

This isn't a nationwide overhaul. It's a precise, surgical strategy. As Brett Loyd, CEO of the nonpartisan polling firm The Bullfinch Group, explained, "This isn't going to work everywhere. It's going to work in very specific areas." The 2024 election season was yet another exhausting chapter in America’s increasingly polarized political landscape. As voters shake off the lingering effects of a divisive campaign cycle, the gap between election peace and chaos seems to shrink with each passing year.

The two-party system continues to dominate, but many Americans—especially independent voters—are questioning whether it truly serves their interests. Despite spending billions of dollars on outreach, Republicans and Democrats alike have failed to engage voters in meaningful ways. Instead of fostering genuine dialogue, campaigns rely on flashy new technologies and aggressive marketing tactics, leaving many Americans feeling unheard. Just as relationships require listening and reciprocity, so does effective political communication. Yet, every election cycle, Americans endure an onslaught of ads, text messages, and “innovative” outreach tactics—only to be ignored once the votes are counted. The result?

Disillusionment and disengagement. Political campaigns increasingly resemble businesses that rely on outdated, offer-driven marketing strategies. Just as brands that fail to understand their customers inevitably lose them, political parties that fail to engage with voters risk alienating their base. In today’s political landscape, branding is about more than just slogans and logos. A strong brand fosters trust, authenticity, and emotional connection. Yet both major parties struggle with credibility, choosing short-term gains over long-term relationships with voters.

In early 2020, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive Democrat from New York, was asked to speculate about her role under a Joe Biden presidency. She groaned. “In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party,” she said, “but in America, we are.” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s frustration with the two-party system reflects the frustration American voters feel every time they step into the voting booth, when they find themselves stuck with the same two choices — and, in most... As a new Congress sputters into gear, this rusty binary split — a product of our antiquated winner-take-all electoral mechanisms — is key to understanding why our national legislature has become the divisive, dysfunctional...

It is why more than 200 leading political scientists and historians (including one of the authors of this essay) signed an open letter in 2022 calling on the House of Representatives to adopt proportional... The result is increased electoral competition and, ultimately, a broader range of political parties for voters to choose from. In 2024 fewer than 10 percent of U.S. House races were competitive. In a vast majority of districts, one party or the other wins by landslides. Driven by a decades-long geographic sorting that has concentrated Democrats in cities and Republicans in rural areas and reinforced by partisan gerrymandering, this split electoral landscape has fostered a polarized climate that becomes more...

The heart of the problem is the system of single-winner districts, which give 100 percent of representation to the candidate who earns the most votes and zero percent to everyone else.

Operatives Say Ai Could Crack The Two Party System Msn

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