Karine Jean-Pierre on Leaving the Democratic Party and Becoming an Independent

On October 20, Institute of Global Politics (IGP) Carnegie Distinguished Fellow Karine Jean-Pierre MPA ’03, the former White House press secretary under President Biden, joined comedian Roy Wood Jr. to discuss the release of her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. The event was held at the 92nd Street Y and cosponsored by IGP.

Jean-Pierre discussed her controversial decision to become an independent, prompted by what she described as the breakdown of the Democratic Party during President Biden’s re-election campaign and her disillusionment with the two-party system.

The event began with opening remarks from Ester Fuchs, IGP Affiliated Faculty member and director of the Urban and Social Policy Concentration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). As Jean-Pierre’s former SIPA professor, Fuchs emphasized Jean-Pierre’s commitment to political inclusion, noting her historic achievement as the first Black and openly queer White House press secretary.

Reflecting on her tenure as press secretary from 2022 through 2025, Jean-Pierre discussed President Biden’s tumultuous re-election campaign, culminating in his decision to withdraw from the presidential race. She recalled the difficulty of defending him against reporters who questioned his mental acuity: “I was the one going to the podium in the briefing room, having to push and defend against reporters,” she said. “It became untenable. The way he was treated by Democrat leadership was devastating to me.”

Jean-Pierre also acknowledged her conflicted feelings about Vice President Kamala Harris’ subsequent presidential campaign. While affirming Harris’s qualifications, she noted the added burden that came with their shared identity: “[Kamala] was more than qualified and did the job [...] but I knew what it was like to be a person of color living in America,” she said, characterizing her mindset as hopeful, yet doubtful. For Jean-Pierre, the chaotic lead-up to the election signified the breakdown of the Democratic Party.

The party’s missteps ultimately led to Jean-Pierre’s decision to become an Independent. “You need a working two-party system for our democracy to work–[and] that system is now broken,” she noted. However, she clarified that her intention was not to uplift a third party, but instead to demonstrate that independence can be a strategic tool. “Being Independent can be a leveraging tool, pressing Democrats and Republicans alike to create platforms that are more nuanced,” she explained, noting her aim to “hold people accountable from the outside” and compel politicians to work for her vote.

As the book talk concluded, Jean-Pierre ended with a call to action by advocating for stronger Democratic leadership: "Democrats need to behave like an opposition party: showing fight, not giving up power, not acting like 'business as usual' [...] You cannot do that when vulnerable lives are at stake," she said.

For everyday citizens, her advice was just as direct. In an era of partisan media and misinformation, she emphasized the need to take personal responsibility for staying informed. "It's important for us to be our own fact-checkers,” she said. “We need to scrutinize, from top to bottom, the information presented to us." 

Jean-Pierre's concluding remarks struck a note of urgency, underscoring the stakes of being engaged with contemporary politics. As the conversation ended, she urged audiences to remain vigilant: "For our democracy to succeed, we have to work at it every single day."