He left the GOP after Jan. 6. Now hes starting a third party in Pennsylvania. – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Ethan Demme was a lifelong Republican and onetime local party chairman in Pennsylvanias reliably conservative Lancaster County. He opposed Donald Trump from the outset of his 2016 presidential campaign and, after 20 years in GOP politics, left the party following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Denial of the 2020 election results has damaged our system of government and has fomented the seeds of sedition, resulting in violence in our nations capital, Demme and two fellow Republicans wrote in a letter to the chairman of the Lancaster GOP on Jan. 7, saying they were changing their registrations to independent.

Now Demme, the CEO of an education publishing company, is heading up the Pennsylvania chapter of a centrist third party. Serve America Movement, or SAM, says it aims to fix a system that has been corrupted by the mainstream parties and the people who prop them up.

Its platform focuses on governance and elections issues like term limits and supporting independent redistricting commissions to draw political maps.

Founded in 2017 by former staffers in George W. Bushs administration, SAM now has chapters in Connecticut, New York, Iowa, and Texas, with plans to expand elsewhere. Much of its funding has come from Wall Street donors and an ex-tobacco executive.

Demme, 39, registered the party with the Pennsylvania Department of State in June.

Too much of politics is nationalized now, he said. How does a State House candidate in Adams County differentiate from one in Delaware County? The issues are actually different for both communities, but too often the campaigns are run on these national issues. So thats what were really hoping to do is really drive that conversation.

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We caught up with Demme and talked about SAM, the challenges it faces, and why campaign mailers for local races feature scary warnings about Trump and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.).

Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

There are a couple things. Sixty-two percent of folks think that its time for a new political party. So theres clearly a rise in appetite among folks for a third party. The rise in unaffiliated voters has been a trend in Pennsylvania, as well as nationally.

It seems that the time is right. Were at that polarization tipping point, I like to call it, where people are really frustrated with both major parties. And they want something else, but they dont know what that is.

Other third parties that have been around tend to have more of a sharp or narrower ideological focus. And thats where the SAM Party comes in. Were more process- and principle-focused. Were leaving sort of our policy platform up to each individual candidate.

When you look at Pennsylvania specifically, a couple of changes in the last couple of years allowed third parties a little more latitude, if you will. We have the elimination of straight ticket voting. Then there was a lawsuit with a settlement with the Green Party.

So its much easier for independent or third-party candidates to get on the ballot.

Ive actually spent a lot of time trying to reform the way the system works but from within a major party.

The big change was with Donald Trump in 2016 and then more recently with the denial of the election results after November. Thats when I sort of made the decision and looked at it and talked to friends and other folks and we concluded that reforming within the party was not going to be a viable option.

Ive talked to at least a dozen folks who are looking at a State House race run or congressional run in Pennsylvania this cycle as an independent.

So Ive actually been surprised at the number of people who have come out of the woodwork saying, Im interested in maybe running for State House, State Senate, or for Congress. And we are talking to a few potential candidates who are looking at a statewide bid, either for [retiring Sen. Pat] Toomeys old seat or for governor. So theres a lot of interest.

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I think the biggest thing over the last couple years is, the differences between national and state and local politics has shifted to, its all national. [Former House Speaker] Tip ONeill said, All politics is local. Now all politics is national.

Even in local races, we had a local municipal race where, on the mailers for the Republican primary, it was all national issues. It was, Hey, were going to stop Democrats from defunding the police, when no Democrat running in that area is actually advocating for that position at all. Youre seeing mail pieces for local municipal races that mention AOC.

This has nothing to do with how your sewer bill gets sent out, and how trash is picked up. The elected officials pretty much have to cater to that loudest, vocal 20% of their base in order to get elected.

Once you start to gain some traction, the two major parties will work together and sort of push back. So it is a long slog of you have that immediate, theres a lot of folks who like the idea but then once you start challenging the status quo, there will be push back. So were expecting that.

Well be hosting some sort of candidate training sessions. Theyre open so you dont have to necessarily be a SAM candidate, its just encouraging non-major party candidates to run.

The redistricting process were watching very closely. That is an opening for alternative candidates to run when its a fresh map. So thats why 2022 is sort of a key cycle for us.

Its gonna take a few years to get up and running. Were not optimistic that were going to change the world overnight, but were planning to be part of that process to make things better in Pennsylvania.

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He left the GOP after Jan. 6. Now hes starting a third party in Pennsylvania. - The Philadelphia Inquirer