Former Biden White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is leaving the Democratic Party.
The prominent Capitol Hill figure shared the decision Wednesday while announcing her forthcoming book, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” due in October from Hachette Book Group.
The former press secretary poses the argument that Americans need to cease their “blind loyalty” to a two-party system and look beyond party lines to “embrace life as independents.” It’s a decision, the publisher says in a press release, that didn’t come lightly, considering that she has served under two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Her leadership positioning began under Biden as Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief of staff before stepping up as Biden’s White House press secretary.
Jean-Pierre detailed more of what’s to come in the book on Instagram on Wednesday: “The reason I wrote this book coming out of the White House, you know, serving as White House press secretary was an honor and privilege, but since I have left, the people that come up to me, strangers that come up to me just across the country as I’m traveling and sometimes right in my neighborhood at a grocery store, supermarket, airport, my daughter’s school, the No. 1 question they ask me is, ‘Karine, how do we get out of this? How do we protect our democracy? How do we protect vulnerable communities among us? What do we do next? Because we don’t have answers here.’ That’s what they ask me. And this is my answer.”
“What I mean by that is in an era of misinformation, disinformation, the regressiveness of social policy, what we’re seeing currently right now, what I had decided to do, and I really have thought long and hard about this, is to follow my own compass,” she continued. “And that’s what I’ve done, and that’s what this book does.”
Read the publisher’s press note for the “groundbreaking, revelatory assessment of America’s broken two-party system” in full, below:
In a country obsessed with blind loyalty to a two-party democratic system, Karine Jean-Pierre, former White House press secretary to the Biden-Harris administration, shares why Americans must step beyond party lines to embrace life as Independents.
Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly. She has served two American presidents, Obama and Biden. In 2020, she joined Biden’s campaign as a senior adviser, becoming Harris’s chief of staff and then, two years later, White House press secretary. She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision.
In an urgent, timely analysis, Independent urges all Americans to vote their values and maintain individuality within party lines. She presents clear arguments and provocative evidence as an insider about the importance of dismantling the torrent of disinformation and misinformation that has been rampant in recent elections and provides passionate insight for moving forward.
In a hard-hitting yet hopeful critique, Jean-Pierre defines what it means to be part of the growing percentage of our fractured electorate that is Independent, why it can be worthwhile to carve a political space more loyal to personal beliefs than a party affiliation, and what questions you need to ask yourself to determine where you fit politically. As a history maker, veteran public servant, political analyst and independent thinker, she urges Americans to think outside of the blue-and-red box as we consider what’s next to save our democracy.
