Reason: “Joseph Bishop-Henchman resigned Friday as chair of the Libertarian National Committee, after a controversy that began three months ago with provocative tweets, intensified two weeks ago with an attempted schism of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, and has now turned into a battle for the soul of America’s third-largest political party.”

“A group of Republicans unhappy with the course of the GOP is forming the Renew America Movement organization to recruit and support candidates in the most competitive 2022 House and Senate races,” Bloomberg reports.

“The group plans to raise ‘tens of millions’ of dollars to support or oppose candidates, regardless of party, to defeat ‘radical Republicans’ who support former President Donald Trump in four to five Senate races and about two dozen House races in next year’s midterm elections. It will also recruit candidates to run in GOP primaries or as independents under the Renew America Movement banner.”

“Evan McMullin, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016 as an independent and is a leader of the effort, said the group wants to push the GOP back to its traditional principles and create a new party if necessary for those conservatives who believe the Republican Party has become too extreme.”

A new Gallup poll finds 62% of U.S. adults say the “parties do such a poor job representing the American people that a third party is needed,” an increase from 57% in September.

Meanwhile, 33% of Americans believe the two major political parties are doing an adequate job representing the public, the smallest percentage expressing this view apart from the 26% reading in October 2013.

Key takeaway: “Independents are usually much more likely than Republicans or Democrats to favor a third political party, but in the current poll, Republicans are nearly as likely as independents to hold this view, 63% to 70%. That represents a dramatic shift for Republicans since last September when 40% favored a third party.”

“A new centrist political party is gaining steam, but records show it’s being largely financed by a single man: a former Philip Morris executive who helped steer the company through the tobacco wars of the 1990s,” Axios reports.

“The Serve America Movement is running candidates in a handful of states, banking on the appeal of a non-ideological party. The outsized financial influence of donor Charles W. Wall underscores the challenge of overcoming extreme partisan rancor with a process-focused political movement.”

A new Gallup poll finds 62% of U.S. adults say the “parties do such a poor job representing the American people that a third party is needed.”

A new The Hill/HarrisX poll finds 64% of registered Republicans say they would be likely to join a new political party started by Donald Trump.

William Cohen, a former GOP senator and Defense secretary under former President Clinton, blasted Republican lawmakers in a CNN interview.

Said Cohen: “We have to remember that the current occupant of the White House is a ringmaster and what he expects to do is snap his whip and all the elephants hop up on chairs. What they have to understand is he is going to continue to snap the whip whether he’s in office or out of office. And every time they’re going to have to jump up and sit on that stool to satisfy him and his supporters.”

He added: “Maybe it’s time for a new party. One that abides by the rule of law… but also faithful to the people of this country, who vote to elect them.”

“Because of rules backed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), concerning third parties, the Working Families Party must garner at least 130,000 votes or 2% of the total vote—whichever is higher—on its party line for the presidential election in November, or it will lose its automatic ballot line in New York,” the New York Times reports.

“The pandemic may have robbed Donald Trump of a growing economy. It may have trapped Joe Biden in his basement. But it may yet do something even worse to the Libertarian and Green party nominees: keep them off the ballot in many of this year’s key states,” Politico reports.

“Several of the elusive ballot lines are in states that in 2016 were either narrowly won or flipped from red-to-blue.”

Echelon Insights looked at U.S. registered voter support in a hypothetical multi-party democracy.

Here’s what it might look like:

• 28% Labor (working class center-left)
• 21% Conservative (traditional-right, pre-Trump)
• 19% Nationalist (basically Trump)
• 12% “Acela Party” (socially liberal, globalist, fiscally centrist)
• 10% Green (basically AOC)

“It’s very freeing to not feel bound to a particular party.”

— Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI), in an interview with Time magazine.