Nathan Smolensky is a longtime independent strategist and the founder of UniFire Consulting, a firm dedicated to providing the strategic infrastructure and messaging for independent political candidates. His focus is on bringing a business mindset to create effective, positive messaging, empowering them to speak powerfully to their campaign platform, viability, and impact proposition while maintaining their authentic voice. He is the author of Common Ground from the Ground Up (2025), which explores how collaborative discourse can make us better advocates for our beliefs, help us heal relationships, and repair the American political landscape. Currently based in Florida, Nathan works with candidates around the nation and takes pride in serving as a connector within the independent space. When not in the “trenches” of a campaign, Nathan enjoys food, chess, and trivia.

Jay was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he spent his formative years surrounded by family as one of eight children. After completing high school, he briefly attended Northeastern University but soon realized that traditional college education was not the right path for him. This realization led him to embark on an entrepreneurial journey, ultimately starting his own construction business, which successfully thrived for an impressive 25 years.

Most Americans love fair and open competition. We spend countless hours and billions of dollars each year participating in or watching contests that test skill, resilience, and strategy. From college and professional sports to reality shows like American Idol, the Bachelor, the Amazing Race, and Survivor, we are captivated by contests that use multiple elimination rounds that ultimately produce a “champion.” Yet the most consequential competition—choosing our presidential nominees—relies on an exclusive, unrepresentative, and nonstandard process. It’s time for political parties to discontinue government-run primaries and adopt party-run regional primaries that use secure mobile voting technology. This new system will produce a party nominee who is more likely to win the Presidential general election.

This new party-run nominating process would take place between January and May of the presidential election year, with four weeks between each regional primary. One year before the Presidential general election, the order of the primaries would be selected by lot, thereby preventing any state or region from enjoying entrenched early influence. The primaries would be open to all registered voters, using publicly available voter-registration data to ensure only citizens and registered voters are allowed to vote. Online voting using a secure mobile app would serve as the default voting method, but mail-in ballots and limited in-person voting would also be allowed. The entire process would be administered by the party rather than the government. Votes would be allocated proportionally, with no winner-take-all states. After the last regional primary, the candidate with the most votes would be declared the party nominee. Parties could also incorporate proportional Ranked Choice Voting to ensure broad support for the nominee and reduce the spoiler effect.

This new nominating process would end the outsized influence of four unrepresentative states—Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada—so every voter, in every state, will feel that their vote mattered. Since the process will be seen as fairer and more open, more candidates will likely throw their hats into the ring. At the beginning of the process, even long-shot candidates will be seen as having a chance to win their party’s nomination. Because there will be no winner-take-all states and the votes will be allocated proportionally, several candidates will most likely remain viable into the last regional primary. Using the College Basketball March Madness analogy, the primary field could start with 32 candidates, dwindle to 16, then 8, and finally to 4 in the last regional primary. Money and name recognition will be important, but not as important as it is under the current nominating system. The influence of special interest groups will also be diminished because they will no longer be able to put all their money and influence on one candidate. Local media and local new media will play bigger roles in this new process.

The party that decides to implement this new nominating process will have an advantage over the party that continues to use the current system. If the Democratic Party decides to implement this new nominating process, their candidates’ names, faces, and ideas will be all over the TV, the internet, and social media for months. Because independent voters would be allowed to participate in the process to select a major party nominee, they will be more motivated to vote for the party’s nominee in the general election. The new nominating process will be exciting, with multiple storylines, interesting public policy ideas, etc. By the end of the process the “champion” (aka the party nominee) will be fully “battle tested,” and more ready to face the other party’s nominee in the general election. Hopefully, this new nominating process will produce a better nominee and restore the public’s trust in the way we select our President.

There are other benefits to implementing this new party-run nominating process. First, a political party could implement this new nominating process without passing citizen-led ballot initiatives or federal or state level legislation. Efforts to implement open primaries in closed primary states have been expensive, time consuming, and rarely effective. Second, unlike the current system of state and local governments running party primaries, this new nominating process would be completely controlled and implemented by the party across all 50 states. Implementing this new party-run nominating process would cost a political party millions of dollars, but because the technology and processes would be standardized across all 50 states, the costs would not be prohibitive. The party that implements the new nominating process could also communicate to taxpayers that their new process would save state and local governments tens of millions of dollars. Finally, although somewhat controversial, allowing all registered voters to participate in a party-run nominating process will be seen as being more democratic and inclusive, improve the party’s brand, increase voter participation in the nominating process (Bipartisan Policy Center), and increase the number of voters who will likely vote for the party’s nominee in the general election.

According to the Mobile Voting Project, mobile voting has been used for nearly 20 years in half a dozen counties and over 21 mobile voting pilots have been conducted across seven states. In every pilot, the National Cybersecurity Center audited the election, and in every case, the election came back clean. Bradley Tusk, founder of the Mobile Voting Project, told CBSnews that voting online “would combat low voter turnout that has been blamed for putting candidates with fringe ideas into office.” Tusk said, “We’re going to take the technology that you use right now for your banking, your health care, your love life, so you can vote securely on your phone.” According to the Unite America Institute, in 2024, closed presidential primaries in 22 states excluded over 27 million voters not registered with a major party—disproportionately younger and more likely to be veterans—undermining the legitimacy of the nominating process and depressing voter engagement. Secure mobile voting technology is ready now. Implementing secure mobile voting technology in party-run primaries is the best way to ensure widespread adoption in future general elections.

Pro-democracy advocates should work to influence political party leaders, including minor party leaders, to fully implement the above-mentioned reforms. Party-run regional primaries with secure mobile voting will make a party’s nominating process fairer, more competitive, and more representative. By implementing this new nominating process, a political party will more likely nominate a candidate who has a better chance of winning the 2028 general election for President.

Please add your comments and suggestions.

School Board members were elected publicly in Falls Church City beginning in 1994. In the 30 years since, Laura is one of only six FCC residents who have been elected to both the School Board and the City Council, and the only female to do so.

Before her public service, Laura served in several volunteer leadership roles: Falls Church Elementary PTA President, Henderson Middle School PTA President, President of the GW Alumni Association, and Board member of the Falls Church Education Foundation. Laura’s professional career has been in the field of Higher Education Administration. She worked at George Washington University as Executive Director of Student Life and also received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from GW.

Laura grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved to Falls Church City, VA, in 2009 with her husband, Christian, and their four sons.

Prior to her election to City Council, she served on the City’s Planning Commission (2011-14), the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board (2012-14) and the Country Club Hills Civic Association from 2010-12. In 2021, Jennifer was selected as the City of Fairfax Woman of Influence.

Jennifer is an issue advocacy and communications professional with more than 20 years of experience in Washington, DC; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and New Delhi, India. Originally from Blaine, Minnesota, Jennifer moved to the Washington Metropolitan Area to attend The George Washington University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and, later, her master’s degree in Political Management.

Something to remember ... Political parties are private gain-seeking organizations. State and local governments should neither fund or run primaries for political parties.

Looking through the lens of self-interest, it is in a political party's self interest to create a fair, standardized, transparent, secure, and exciting (buzz, earned media, FOMO) process to select their Presidential nominee.

Voters, especially younger voters, will like this new way of selecting party nominees.

My vision for Presidential primaries ...

• Parties should select their Presidential nominees through party run primaries. The Regional Primaries would be run between January and May, with four weeks between each regional primary. The order of the primaries would be selected by lot.

• The party run primaries would be open to all registered voters. Parties currently have access to registered voter data.

• The preferred method of voting would be through a secure mobile voting app. The technology is already here. The technology will be more mature and accepted by 2028. If a voter doesn't want to use the mobile app, mail-in and in-person voting methods will also be available, although in-person voting would be limited. Perhaps one in-person voting location in each Congressional District. In-person voting would be run by the party, not the government.

• Scoring

  • States will allocate delegates by their electoral college votes (x 10). No winner takes all states. After the state votes are tabulated, candidates will receive a proportion of the delegates based on the number of votes they receive. Proportional Ranked Choice Voting could also be used.

• Vision

  • Likely outcomes of the new system. Many candidates will likely throw their hats into the ring. At the beginning of the process, no one can predict, with any degree of certainty, who will win. Even long shot candidates have a chance of winning. Kind of like the 64th seed in the NCAA Basketball Championship tournament.

  • Four, unrepresentative states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina) will no longer have outsized importance. Every voter in every state can say that their vote mattered.

  • Because there will be no "winner takes all" states and the votes will be allocated proportionally, several candidates will most likely remain viable into the last regional primary. Using the March Madness analogy, the primary field could start with 32 candidates and dwindle to 16, then 8, and finally to 4 in the last region.

  • Money and name recognition will be important, but it will not be as important as it is under the current primary system. Any candidate has a shot to win. Money and special interest groups can no longer put all of their chips on one candidate. Local media and local new media will play bigger roles than under the old system.

  • If, for example, the Democratic Party decides to implement this system, and the Republican Party decides to use the current system, the Democrat’s Presidential Primary contest will be all over the news and internet for months. It will be exciting, with multiple storylines, interesting policy ideas, etc.

  • In the end, the ultimate nominee will be fully "battle tested," and more competitive in the general election.

  • Hopefully, this new system will produce better nominees and restore the public's trust in the way voters select Presidential nominees.

I would like to publish a version of this idea in an OP-ED. I would love to partner with someone. Also, please let me know if you have contacts within the two major parties who might be interested in this idea.

I welcome your questions and comments.

Thanks,

Mike Cantwell

Political parties began to take shape during Washington's presidency, with his unanimous election in 1788 leading some to believe that the American Republic might never see political parties develop. However, by 1793, there was an emerging split between two distinct visions for the country's future, leading to the formation of Democratic-Republicans, led by Jefferson, and the Federalists, led by Hamilton.

Washington remained above the fray throughout his presidency, believing that unity was necessary for a democratic republic to survive. In his Farewell Address, which was distributed widely, he wrote, “[political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Just like in 1796, WE THE PEOPLE yearn for political leaders who are unshackled from political parties and who refuse to associate themselves with “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men.”

It is time for courageous Americans to leave their political parties and support Independent and minor party candidates.

Run. Win. Serve.

Start local, and scale.

Donna's roots are in the U.S. Intelligence Community, where she worked closely with amazing professionals of all stripes who all had a common goal: to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Public service is a natural instinct for Donna, dating back to her time as a Girl Scout.

Public service is Donna's way of showing gratitude for the wonderful and unique opportunities this great country has afforded her, and there is no greater honor than to serve. That is why she is running to become the next governor of Virginia. She can take her decades of experience in public service to make Virginia an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.

Marq is dedicated to fostering public/private partnerships to pave roads, increase green space, and community art.

Marq believes that by working together, the people can build a prosperous, healthy, beautiful, and financially sound California City.

The Independents for America substack and podcast continue to gain traction. People around the country, and the world, are watching the podcast, reading the posts, following on social media, and subscribing to the substack.

A few metrics …

Substack: 126 subscribers. 7 paid subscribers

Substack podcast views: The last few podcasts are averaging 150 views.

YouTube: 10 subscribers

Linkedin: 313 followers

Facebook: 45 followers

X: 333 followers

Bluesky: 167 followers

I need your help …

The Independents for America substack and podcast costs about $100 per month to keep the lights on. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber so I can continue to tell the stories of local and state Independent candidates and news about the broader Independents movement.

Stay Centered,

Mike Cantwell

Founder, Independents for America

“My mission is to champion a vibrant and safer St Albans by fostering community cohesion, amplifying resident voices, and driving forward positive, people-centric change.

As a non-partisan office holder, Johnson has the chance to stand up for his own values and for the needs of his community, rather than for any one political party’s agenda.

“I hear a lot that the state Democratic Party wants us to do this, or the state Democratic Party wants us to do that. I really felt like that would be limiting to me, because I want to be creative. I want to go down the path that works for me,” Johnson said.

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Francis is a University of Virginia graduate, Navy veteran, surgeon, professor of orthopedic surgery, father and grandfather. He spent much of his Navy career helping soldiers, sailors, and marines. He led a team of doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital that treated marines and SEALS who were severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Francis is committed preserving rural Greene County, working hand in hand with lifelong residents and newcomers alike to help curb overdevelopment. He understands that our rural agricultural and conservation districts are our treasures and knows that once they are gone, they are lost for good.

Robin holds a Master of Arts in Human Services Counseling with a concentration in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Liberty University’s Helms School of Government. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling with a concentration in Traumatology from Liberty University.

Her professional experience includes her current role as a Program and Policy Analyst at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where she manages and coordinates various policy and program initiatives.

As a candidate for the Board of Education, Robin is focused on ensuring that all students in the district have access to a safe, equitable, and high-quality education. Key areas of focus in her platform include:

• Empowering parents to advocate for education equity.

• Enhancing cybersecurity protections for students using school-provided devices.

• Strengthening school safety while advancing District 5’s standing in terms of educational performance and competitiveness.

• Advocating for families with children with disabilities to ensure appropriate resources and support.

• Building partnerships with local businesses to create opportunities for students to gain job skills and apprenticeships.

Her diverse experiences in education, public service, and advocacy provide her with a comprehensive understanding of the needs and challenges facing District 5. Her focus on community engagement, student success, and policy improvement reflects her commitment to supporting the educational growth and safety of students, teachers, and staff across the district.

Justin was sworn in as a Deptford Township School Board member on January 2, 2025.

Justin said, “As a former student member of the Gloucester County Vocational Technical School District Board, I have first-hand experience advocating for equitable policies,” said Green. “I’m driven to ensure that the board is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of our community.

“I believe it’s time for a new generation of leadership to step up,” he added, “and I am committed to working towards a brighter future for all Deptford students.”

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Laura has long been an advocate for political reform and good governance. Please consider donating to her campaign. DM me for more information.

Forward Party aims to press forward with uphill political climb

I’m going to miss the campaign. Our weekly campaign meetings. Debate prep. Editing questionnaires and campaign flyers. Knocking on doors and educating voters a the polls on election day.

The good news is the Forward Party isn’t going anywhere. Americans are still unhappy with the two legacy parties and are looking for something new. 20% of the Forward Party endorsed candidates won their races.

I will be relaunching my podcast soon. The podcast will tell the stories of Independent/minor party candidates who ran for office. I hope to grow my paid and unpaid subscribers exponentially over the next year.

Also, please reach out to me if you are thinking about running for political office. Remember, no candidate ever said, “I wish I would have started later.”

Stay Centered,

Mike Cantwell

michael@independentsforamerica.com