Leaked Email Between Reform Party and CNN Reveals Discussions on 2024, Challenges for Third Parties, and Potential Party Collaborations

The Reform Party has been in talks with CNN to discuss its recent activities, including conversations between the party and other political organizations, the 2024 presidential election, and the unique challenges facing alternative candidates.

According to a leaked email shared with Independent Political Report by a source within the Reform Party, CNN approached Reform Party National Committee Chair Nicholas Hensley following the party’s recent meeting with the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign.

The email spans several topics, including the Reform Party’s various interactions with other political entities besides the Kennedy campaign, including the Forward Party, the Prohibition Party, the Alliance Party, and No Labels. The email stated that the Reform Party intends to continue having such conversations, even after it nominates a presidential candidate, though it has not yet made a decision.

RPNC Chair Nicholas Hensley confirmed with IPR that he did write the initial email. In it, Hensley said that conversations between the Reform Party and other parties have been routine and primarily focus on information sharing and collaborations.

“An organization or candidate might fold and another organization will swoop up volunteers and resources,” Hensley writes, “There are a thousand and one potential reasons for organizations and candidates to talk.”

Hensley also details an offer from the Reform Party to support future No Labels candidates, leveraging the party’s expanded fundraising capabilities due to the FEC’s recognition of it as a qualified minor party.

Additionally, Hensley discusses significant financial barriers to competitive fundraising against the Republican and Democratic parties and the unique challenges alternative parties and independent candidates face in gaining ballot access, citing specific examples such as New York. He critiques what he calls collusion between the Democratic and Republican parties that allows them to maintain a two-party dominance in American politics, which he also states hinders competition and leads to the creation of unpopular candidates like President Joseph Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Hensley also calls out the two larger parties for their “raid on the federal treasury” and outlines the need for reform, highlighting specific concerns like winner-take-all electoral college allocations, independent legislators being required to caucus with one of the two larger parties, and the broader impact of establishment-focused politics.

Hensley closed his message with an invitation to CNN to meet with his team and discuss these issues further. It is not confirmed if CNN and Hensley have spoken further beyond the email shared with IPR. A word document copy of the email sent from Hensley to CNN is available here.