What is Free Agent Politics?

Free Agent Politics is a newsletter focused on the values, attitudes, policy positions, and electoral behavior of America’s rising number of political independents. Who are these independent voters? What do they believe? How do they view the two major parties and their candidates? Are they open to third parties? Where do they diverge from one another? On what do they agree? How do independents process complex public policy issues and make decisions in a two-party system?

Free Agent Politics is a newsletter for those who follow no party line or those who may be interested in other Americans who do not identify with either of the two major political parties.

A newsletter of, by, and for political independents and those thinking about becoming independent or understanding them better.

John Halpin

John Halpin is the creator and author of Free Agent Politics. He is the co-founder and former executive editor of The Liberal Patriot newsletter, which published nearly 1500 editions from 2020-2026. Halpin has analyzed U.S. and international politics for nearly 30 years through his work in political campaigns, public opinion research, policy development, and journalism. His ideas and analysis have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, The Washington Monthly, The American Prospect, Persuasion, CNN, PBS, and other media outlets.

Halpin has lived in Baltimore City for more than two decades and is one of the more than one million unaffiliated voters in the state of Maryland.

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