The Forward Party is entering into a cooperative agreement with the Arizona Independent Party, giving the national organization a recognized ballot line to use in the state ahead of the 2026 election cycle. The Arizona Independent Party is the renamed Arizona No Labels Party, which originally qualified in 2023.
In a November 6 statement, the Forward Party announced plans for it and the Arizona Independent Party to jointly recruit, support, and endorse candidates. Leaders of both organizations said the agreement aims to give independent and unaffiliated voters a stronger voice and provide candidates outside the two major parties a clearer path to the ballot.
“Independent voters provide the voice of nonpartisan governance and a vital democracy, yet too often they’ve been denied full status as voters and new kinds of choices at the ballot box,” said Jackie Salit, a Forward Party national board member. “Arizona will become a national leader in creating a durable structure that can compete with the legacy parties and offer all voters the leaders that represent them, not partisan interests.”
While still the No Labels Party of Arizona, the Arizona Independent Party reorganized after a June 2025 ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its right to remain a recognized party and allow candidates to run under its banner. Former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson was elected chair shortly after the decision and began preparing the group for the 2026 election cycle.
In a statement, Johnson said the rebranded organization would open its ballot line to independents and candidates who share its principles of problem-solving and bipartisan cooperation. Members later voted to rename the organization, and the change formally took effect this month.
Prior to the agreement, the Forward Party maintained an organizing team in the state and included affiliated lawmakers from both major parties, but it did not have its own ballot line or formal state recognition. According to the statement, the Arizona Independent Party will now “provide ballot access and develop the organizational infrastructure that independent candidates have long lacked” in an effort to give them “meaningful political power.”
“Democrats and Republicans needing 6,000 signatures to run for state office and independents needing 48,000 wasn’t a mistake—it was the two parties boxing out the largest group of voters in Arizona from having access,” Johnson said. “We want people who are unhappy with the lack of results from their government to know they now have an ability to participate and run for office.”
The Arizona Independent Party added it will introduce its founding board members in the coming weeks, representing a mix of community leaders, advocates, and reformers. The organization has not yet identified all individuals involved but previously mentioned Sarah Smallhouse as another central figure.
Both groups also credited Nancy Jacobson, an original founder of No Labels and its initial Arizona affiliate, for helping establish the original ballot line that made the new partnership possible.
Since No Labels changed to Arizona Independent Party, will it be a “continuing” party like the Libertarians, with its candidates kept off the ballot? Or will it be a legally “new” party like the Greens with ballot access? Will AIP lobby for ballot access reform in Arizona?
They should do the same with the Natural Law Party of Michigan.