New centrist party led by former Nirvana bassist kicking off at Bremerton's Charleston

Voters feeling underwhelmed about last week's presidential debate can stay tuned for this fall, when Washington's presidential ballot could offer an unexpected third option: Nirvana's founding bassist.

Krist Novoselić, who founded Nirvana along with Kurt Cobain, is the chair of Washington's newly formed Cascade Party, as well as their proposed presidential candidate. He is campaigning fervently, if unhappily.

"We don't want to be on the presidential ballot," he said. "We told the state that."

But under state law, in order for Novoselić's Cascade Party to qualify as a minor political party — a designation that comes with fundraising and organizing benefits — they have to gather 1,000 signatures for a presidential nominating petition.

So the party is holding a statewide tour to gather those signatures. Novoselić's Bona Fide Band, which was formed to promote the Cascade Party, will perform at a variety of venues around the state, with a visit to the Charleston on Callow Avenue in Bremerton coming on July 10.

The performances are listed as an official party convention. Under state law, multiple gatherings can constitute a single convention.

Novoselić said he would ask the state to take him off the ballot should the party be recognized, and the Cascade Party has submitted a petition challenging the government's candidate requirement.

Because the Cascade Party aims to get active in local politics starting in 2025, Novoselić explained, the 2024 election is their last chance before 2028 to qualify as a minor party.

"If you're not a bona fide party, a recognized party, then you can't coordinate with candidates," Novoselić said. "And then you're just another Political Action Committee," or an organization that raises and distributes funds to political candidates but cannot field its own candidates.

Novoselić said on June 27 that the Cascade Party currently has about half of the signatures they need. The deadline to submit the petition is July 27 .

From music to politics

Following Nirvana's dissolution in 1994, Novoselić gradually made his way into Washington politics. He combated Seattle's controversial Teen Dance Ordinance , then worked for the state Democratic Party before becoming involved with former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang's Forward Party. Novoselić also served as the chair of FairVote — a national organization promoting ranked-choice voting — from 2008 until he stepped down in 2019.

In 2020, Novoselić posted on Facebook condemning some of the protests that followed George Floyd's death. Backlash was swift; Novoselić described himself as "canceled," and subsequently deleted all his major social media accounts.

In early spring of 2024, Novoselić, disillusioned, left the Forward Party and launched the Cascade Party.

"It's just trying to do something new and different," he said. "With the polarized politics, that center lane is open, so let's just move into the center lane."

What is the Cascade Party?

Although the Cascade Party's website features a draft platform — with centrist-leaning policy positions sorted into categories like "social good," "agriculture," and "judicial reform" — at this point, the party is focused on fighting polarization and achieving what they see as fair democratic participation.

"I've never believed in these big narratives, like if we did this and we did that, all our problems would be solved and I'm going to live my best life," Novoselić said. "It doesn't work like that. It's about democracy. It's about participation."

The party is a proponent of single nontransferable vote, or Top Two Pro, an electoral system for multi-member districts where there is no primary and each voter casts a single vote. It is a modified version of Washington's Top Two system, which was passed in 2004 and effectively made most state elections nonpartisan.

If Top Two Pro were to be enacted, Novoselić said, it would eliminate the need for a state redistricting commission, which Novoselić sees as overly partisan.

"You would have Democrats elected again in the Yakima Valley," he said. "You would have Republicans elected again in King County and urban and suburban areas. And of course, there'd be space for parties like the Cascade Party."

Novoselić regularly describes the Cascade Party as "member-driven," and in a recording of the party's June 21 convention in Aberdeen said repeatedly that "there are no bosses in the Cascade Party."

Novoselić also said that the Cascade Party was a "demonstration party," clarifying later that he did not mean "a demonstration with picket signs and bullhorns on the street." Rather, the Cascade Party is intended to demonstrate "new forms of association."

One of those new forms, according to Novoselić, is independent social media. He has built his party around a paid, open-source platform called HumHub , which he sees as an alternative to major social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). In a column posted to the Cascade Party's website , Novoselić wrote that "[o]ne of the goals of Cascade is to build a political association which merges with social media."

"You don't have to have these meetings — central committee meetings — on a Wednesday night at 7:30," he said. "Why don't we just use social media, and people just connect when they can?"

Novoselić believes that independent social media platforms like HumHub offer a more secure kind of political organizing, though his column doesn't provide direct evidence. In his op-ed, he wrote that "[g]overnment and [mainstream] social media are in lockstep," citing documents known as the "Twitter Files" as proof. Reporting has shown that the Twitter Files do not conclusively prove any government involvement in social media content moderation.

The Bona Fide Band

When Novoselić realized the Cascade Party would have to hold conventions, his musical background spurred him to imagine a more creative convention format.

That gave rise to the Bona Fide Band, which in addition to Novoselić features Screaming Trees drummer Mark Pickerel, vocalists Jennifer Johnson and Jillian Raye of Giants in the Trees and 3rd Secret, and guitarist Kathy Moore.

The band plays mostly Giants in the Trees and 3rd Secret covers, according to a link shared by Nirvana's official X account. At a June 21 concert in Aberdeen, the Bona Fide Band covered Nirvana's "Love Buzz," Billboard reported.

"We're doing these shows, we're trying to have as much fun as possible," Novoselić said. "I do music, it's just what comes naturally to me, and I'm resourceful, so it's like, 'Here's something I can do that could be useful.'"

Novoselić said the band's shows, some of which he is still booking, typically do not include political rhetoric, despite being listed as conventions. Still, the nominating petition will circulate at all shows, including the one at the Charleston.

"But you don't have to sign the petition if you're not interested in it," Novoselić said. "Nobody's pressuring anybody to do anything."

In some ways, that attitude mirrors Novoselić's overall approach to politics: no hard feelings.

"If we have our health and happiness, there's really no reason to be bitter," he said. "I don't know why people get bitter or be sore losers, or whatever. Like, I've lost political fights. And I'm like, well, you get up and dust yourself off and you try again some other way. The process is slow, and it can be frustrating. Lots of people just don't have patience anymore, I think."

To purchase tickets to see the Bona Fide Band at The Charleston on July 10, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/krist-novoselics-bonafide-band-star-anna-tickets-921736678217 . Doors open at 6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: New centrist party led by former Nirvana bassist kicking off at Bremerton's Charleston