WASHINGTON.- Former senator and former Democrat Joe Manchin launches, together with his daughter Heather Manchin, the Independent Leadership Council (ILC), which will promote politicians who can join bipartisan projects or align themselves with Democrats or Republicans.

“We're not trying to create another party,” Manchin said. "We are looking for a committed person, totally committed, with independence and with his own voice. Someone who can vote with Democrats and Republicans when they are right and who will speak out against them when they are wrong."

In the Senate, Manchin was an uncomfortable character for various Democratic projects, including an immigration reform plan in 2022 under a Reconciliation process.

Manchin's new project “seeks to identify, support and elect a new generation of independent leaders.”

According to a report shared with this newspaper, an inaugural summit in West Virginia would have brought together candidates, political leaders and “reform-minded” Americans.

Heather Manchin is the founder of Americans Together, but now she is joining the launch of the ILC.

“American democracy works best when there is real competition,” the new movement claims. “As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the ILC seeks to restore a principle embraced by America's founders: that competition creates accountability, strengthens institutions, and ultimately delivers better outcomes for citizens.”

The promoters of this political project highlight that there is a growing number of independent voters, which shows "dissatisfaction with partisan politics."

In January 2026, Gallup reported that 45% of American adults identified as politically independent, up from 43% in 2014, 2023 and 2024.

In May, this newspaper published that while the majority of Latino voters identify as Democrats (53%), independents (22%) outnumber Republicans (18%), becoming a powerful force in the midterm elections, according to a new report from the research firm ThinkNow.

Among voters in general, there is a clear division in political positions with 36% supporting Democrats; 34% Republicans and 24% independents, indicated the same report.

“We hope this is kind of a pilot project, an experiment to show that it's possible,” Heather Manchin said.

The ILC places Alaska, California, Iowa, Montana and Washington as priority states.

The independent movement of former Senator Manchin and his daughter is not the only one to increase influence in Washington, D.C., since there is also the Independent Center, which works with Democratic and Republican politicians.

“What you are seeing is a very clear trend where partisan identification is decreasing and people who identify as no party or who say they are independent are increasing to almost half of the US population,” explained Adam Brandon, senior advisor at the Independent Center, in an interview with this newspaper last May.