Democrats test a new red state strategy: Back independents over their own nominees

By STEVE PEOPLES and MIKE CATALINI, The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Democratic leaders, desperate to compete in red states where their party brand is toxic, are embracing something new this midterm season: Not backing Democrats.

In states like Nebraska, Idaho and Alaska, Democratic officials are, in some cases, looking past their own party's candidates while subtly encouraging — or even openly promoting — independent candidates they hope can outperform the Democratic label. The Democratic National Committee and some of its allies in Washington are quietly supporting the new strategy.

Nebraska Democrats this week chose a nominee for U.S. Senate, Cindy Burbank, who said a major campaign priority was to ensure a Democrat wouldn't be on the fall ballot to pull support from independent Dan Osborn. Shortly after polls closed, Burbank reiterated her plan to drop out in the coming weeks during a private conversation with a party official, according to state Democratic chair Jane Kleeb.

Democratic leaders believe Osborn, who came within 7 points of winning a Senate seat in 2024, has the best chance to defeat Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.

Democrats' pivot toward independents is part of an intentional strategy in some places — and something closer to a wink and a nod in others — that covers a handful of high-profile Senate and House and even statehouse contests. Independent Senate candidates are also running in states like Idaho, South Dakota and Montana, where Democratic leadership has so far been unwilling to fully embrace the independents, although many view them as the Democrats' best chance to stop Republicans this fall.

"For some states, and Nebraska is one of them, where Democrats are 32% of the electorate, this is a long-term strategy for us," said Kleeb, who also serves as a vice chair to the Democratic National Committee. Kleeb said her state party is backing independents in at least four state legislative seats in addition to the U.S. Senate: "We have to build a coalition with independents in order to win elections so we can do good work for the people. Period."

The Democrats' fundraising site, ActBlue, serves some of the independent candidates, as do popular Democratic-allied website builders. At the same time, some of the party's campaign committees in Washington quietly provide logistical support in some cases, while avoiding public criticism of the independent candidates even in some races where there is a Democratic nominee.

"The Democratic Party's brand is awful right now," said Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin. "The combination of the brand problem and the existential nature of the threat that our country is facing requires us to have a big tent and look for candidates who can win."

Some Democratic donors, strategists and party leaders from other states have privately pushed back, insisting Democrats should not look past their own nominees for short-term political gain.

"What's the independent going to do for the Democratic Party if they win?" asked Democratic strategist Mike Ceraso, who sees the shift toward independents as an attempt to disguise Democrats in some cases. "We're the party of truth and honesty and integrity, but we're playing these stupid political games?"

In Idaho, independent Senate candidate Todd Achilles, an Army veteran and former Democratic state legislator, said he won't be caucusing with either party if elected. He explained his politics as "straight down the middle," and said he believes in individual liberties. "Idahoans should be able to live how they want," he said. But the Democratic Party was a bad fit because it "has given up on little red states like Idaho."

Achilles said he and other military veterans running for Senate as independents chat in the text chain and are "very much on the same page." He says the group wants to see "guardrails," including term and age limits and campaign finance reform. "The priority is to get Congress functioning again," he said. "We gotta break the grip of the two-party system."

In South Dakota, Navy and Air Force veteran Brian Bengs has launched an independent bid to defeat Republican incumbent Sen. Mike Rounds, who's seeking a third term this fall. Bengs ran as a Democrat against Senate Majority Leader John Thune four years ago and lost by 43 points. A lifelong independent, he said he got turned down by the party this time when he sought to run with its organizational support but without the label.

One key lesson from his 2022 campaign, he says, was how hard it was to break through with the Democratic Party label. Voters would immediately ask, "What are you?" he recalled. "When you say, 'I'm a lifelong independent running as a Democrat,'" Bengs said, the response was quick. "'I'll never vote for a Democrat.' And that was it," he said. "So that takeaway soured me on running again in any party system, because it was just a soul-sucking experience."

A spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee criticized independents like Osborn, Bengs, Achilles and Seth Bodnar, who is running in Montana, as "fake Independents who would push liberal Democratic policies in the Senate."

Currently, there are two independents in the Senate: Maine Sen. Angus King and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Both caucus with Democrats.

[Note: this AP wire piece, as hosted on Breitbart, references events at the time of the Nebraska Democratic primary ("this week") and Breitbart's own page metadata dates it to 2026-05-15 — it predates Burbank's and Roth's actual withdrawals reported by other outlets in July, and is used here only for its still-current background quotes (Kleeb, Schwerin, Ceraso, Achilles, Bengs, the NRSC spokeswoman) and its disclosure of DNC/ActBlue involvement, not as a report of the withdrawals themselves.]