Where Will Independents Go From Here?
RFK Jr. is all-in on the MAHA coalition. Where will the Independent movement go from here?
RFK Jr. is All-In on MAHA
Two weeks after suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has decided to go all-in on the MAHA coalition.
When he first announced his endorsement of Trump, Kennedy told supporters that he would only take his name off of the ballot in ten swing states where his presence on the ballot could have hurt Trump. In solidly blue and red states, he said would encourage supporters to cast their votes for him.
Now, he has abandoned that path and instead urges his supporters in all fifty states to vote for Trump:
“A disputed election result would be a disaster for our divided nation. President Trump needs to win in a landslide both in the Electoral College and the popular vote. He can’t do it unless my supporters join him and look at the big picture.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
There is now just one swing state where Kennedy has not been able to take his name off the ballot: Wisconsin. Michigan and North Carolina, the two other swing states which initially rejected his requests to withdraw, overturned those rejections upon Kennedy’s appeal.
In Michigan, Kennedy’s withdrawal risks taking away the Natural Law Party’s chance to maintain ballot access. The party chose to nominate Kennedy for President earlier this year. Kennedy’s court victory this week allowing him to withdraw from the ballot means that the party no longer has a presidential nominee, and in order to retain ballot access for future elections, the party’s “principal candidate” must win at least 1 percent of the votes cast for the successful candidate for secretary of state in the previous election. The party has qualified for the ballot in Michigan since 1992.
Some of Kennedy’s supporters feel more let down by this announcement than they were by his initial endorsement of Trump. These supporters still saw a path for Kennedy to campaign for 5 percent of the vote, which would have secured federal matching campaign funds for a 2028 campaign with his new We The People Party.
Another group of former Kennedy campaign staffers is on board with Kennedy’s decision and following his lead. This group is launching a Make America Healthy Again PAC to convince RFK Jr. supporters to vote Trump in swing states where he is unable to remove his name from the ballot and blue states in which they believe they have enough support to flip the state to Trump, such as Virginia and New Hampshire.
Nicole Shanahan, meanwhile, has built up her support within MAGA over the past several weeks by producing a series of viral campaign ads including a mock pharmaceutical ad promoting ‘Independence’ as a remedy for Trump Derangement Syndrome and a compilation of scenes from the 1960s tying RFK Jr.’s mission today to the mission of his father and uncle.
Independents Run Down-Ballot
Independent candidate Dan Osborn officially secured a place on the ballot in Nebraska’s Senate race this week. Nebraska’s Secretary of State confirmed that over 6,000 of the 12,000 signatures submitted by his campaign were valid.
Osborn is a U.S. Navy veteran, a labor union leader and strike organizer, a mechanic, and a steamfitter. Now, he is running neck-and-neck in polls with incumbent Republican Senator Deb Fischer after Nebraska Democrats declined to nominate a candidate of their own.
Senator Fischer is refusing to debate Osborn. He invited her to a debate last week, which turned into a town hall when she did not show up, and he has repeatedly challenged her to debate at other times and places.
Fischer hopes to win a third term to the Senate by ignoring and dismissing her opponent as a “political science experiment,” a label that Osborn embraces as an accurate depiction of his campaign. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were political science experiments, he says.
Fischer cannot simply wish away his campaign, however. Osborn consistently ties her in polls and now officially has his name on the ballot.
Libertarian Michael White is also in a head-to-head race in Little Rock, Arkansas for State House District 75 against incumbent Democratic State Representative Ashley Hudson.
White calls his race “the most winnable race for Liberty in the country” and a rare opportunity to send a Libertarian to a state legislature. Just this week, his campaign put up almost 100 yard signs across the district.
In Ohio, Independent State House candidate Justin Tjaden’s ballot access petition was rejected after a lengthy process of legal challenges that ended with the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling against Tjaden focused largely on his “failure to follow procedural steps” during the challenge. It did not raise the question of whether Ohio’s election laws treat Independent candidates fairly. Tjaden alleges they do not.
He will not endorse either major party candidate in the race for State House District 99, citing animus, vitriol, and the “alleged weaponization of his petitions during official party proceedings.” Instead, he called for unity:
“Look at what’s happening at the national level. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have crossed partisan lines to endorse former President Donald Trump, calling for unity in this country.
Irrespective of their individual policies, I want the same for Northeast Ohio. Unity. Community. Compassion.”
Tjaden fully endorsed Ohio Issue 1, a constitutional amendment on the ballot this year to establish a citizen-led independent redistricting commission.
He said he is now in the process of filing for personal bankruptcy “in large part due to this legal pursuit” for ballot access, but that “there will be a next step, and I’ll be ready when the time comes.”
In Holly, Michigan, Anna Matson, a market researcher and creator of KennedyDebunked.com, is running for Village President. Matson surpassed her initial fundraising goal of $2,000 for yard signs and mailers this week.
Matson alleges censorship, however, by her one of her opponents, incumbent Village Councillor April Brandon. Matson says Brandon, who runs Holly’s public Facebook forum, blocked her from participating or campaigning in the forum.
Rescue The Republic
Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle joined The Daily Independent on 𝕏 Spaces this week to discuss coalition-building betweens Independents, Libertarians, and others.
McArdle discussed the party’s successful efforts at building coalitions with the People’s Party to host Rage Against The War Machine rallies; with the Trump campaign to secure pledges that he would appoint a Libertarian to his cabinet, free Ross Ulbricht, and close the Department of Education; and with the Kennedy campaign.
McArdle is also a co-founder of the Rescue Our Republic rally alongside Dr. Bret Weinstein and Matt Tune. The rally will take place on September 29 in Washington, D.C., where organizers hope to send a clear message that a broad coalition of Americans are absolutely intent on defending free speech and informed consent and ending war, censorship, and lawfare.
RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Russell Brand are set to headline the rally, and Weinstein hinted that Trump might as well on The Joe Rogan Experience this week.
Weinstein placed significant weight on the historic importance of this rally in his conversation with Joe Rogan. He believes that the fundamentals of Western society—including freedom of speech and choice, consent of the governed, and meritocratic political, economic, and scientific systems—are under severe threat and may no longer be salvageable by the 2028 election.
He is concerned with potential election interference this November and emphasized the power of a large assembly in D.C. to boost the image of a unity coalition against the deep corruption that grips government today.
The Independent movement has undergone major shifts in just the past two weeks.
Kennedy’s supporters remain split on whether he chose the right course of action. Many feel deep bitterness towards the Democratic Party for its’ campaign of lawfare and censorship against Kennedy and feel camaraderie with Trump supporters. Many medical freedom advocates see a victory in bringing the Trump campaign to their side. Others are encouraged by the team of people who now surround Trump, including Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Calley Means.
Some of Kennedy’s supporters resonated deeply with his declaration of independence from the two-party system, however, and now feel disillusioned by his partnership with the Trump campaign. Many who backed Kennedy did so because of disillusionment with Trump himself, and do not trust that Kennedy will ultimately get anything out of this coalition effort or that Trump will meaningfully challenge corruption in a second term.
The Independent movement should focus on preserving its coalition despite new differences in strategy.
Independents can support the MAHA coalition—or not—and support down-ballot Independent candidates at the same time. We can support minor parties in order to build up the foundation for bigger victories in 2026 and 2028. We can support independent citizen journalists who bring the news of this movement to our communities.
Unity does not mean blind support for one politician or another. Unity means a shared commitment, despite differences in strategy and policy, to advancing an Independent movement that is dedicated to restoring the first principles of our Republic.
The Union Forward newsletter is published under The Daily Independent: An Independent Report for Independent Thinkers.
Sources
Statement on Ohio Supreme Court Ruling — Tjaden for District 99
Wherever Independents go from here, it is wise not to follow the erratic, unpredictable, and nonsustaining path of RFK, Jr. Just ask his own family. His association with the Mindless-Maga-Maniac-Mascot is completely unacceptable to this Independent voter.