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Georgia Secretary of State election, 2022 (May 24 Republican primary)

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2026
2018
Georgia Secretary of State
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 11, 2022
Primary: May 24, 2022
Primary runoff: June 21, 2022
General: November 8, 2022

Pre-election incumbent(s):
Brad Raffensperger (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Georgia
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness
State executive elections in 2022
Impact of term limits in 2022
State government trifectas
State government triplexes
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
Georgia
executive elections
Governor

Lieutenant Governor
Attorney General
Secretary of State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Agriculture Commissioner
Labor Commissioner
Insurance Commissioner

Incumbent Brad Raffensperger defeated three other candidates in the Republican primary election for Georgia secretary of state on May 24, 2022. The two candidates who led in polling were Raffensperger and Jody Hice. Raffensperger received 52.1% of the vote, and Hice received 33.7% of the vote.

Former President Donald Trump (R) endorsed Hice on March 22, 2021.[1] Trump said, "Unlike the current Georgia Secretary of State, Jody leads out front with integrity. I have 100% confidence in Jody to fight for Free, Fair, and Secure Elections in Georgia, in line with our beloved U.S. Constitution. Jody will stop the Fraud and get honesty into our Elections!"[2] Joseph Ax of Reuters wrote that Raffensperger "has been one of Trump's most frequent targets ever since he refused, emphatically and publicly, to capitulate to the demands of the former president, his fellow Republican, to 'find' enough votes to overturn the results in Georgia's 2020 presidential vote."[3]

Raffensperger was elected as secretary of state in 2018. Raffensperger disputed Trump's claims about election fraud in 2020 and directly criticized Hice over those claims. During a January 2022 appearance on CBS' Face The Nation, Raffensperger said, "Congressman Hice, he’s been in Congress for several years. He’s never done a single piece of election reform legislation. Then he certified his own race with those same machines, the same ballots, and yet for President Trump, he said you couldn’t trust that."[4] Raffensperger's website highlighted a #1 ranking in election integrity from the Heritage Foundation as proof of his leadership and conservative values.[5]

Hice was elected to the U.S. House in 2014. Hice has supported Trump's election fraud claims. At a May 2022 debate, Hice said, "The 'big lie' in all of this is that there were no problems with this past election. This past election was an absolute disaster under the leadership of Brad Raffensperger."[3] Hice objected to the counting of Georgia's electoral votes during the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021.[1] Hice said he would "aggressively pursue voter fraud" and would seek to make final election results available on election night.[6]

The secretary of state is responsible for a wide range of services and regulatory duties, in addition to being the keeper of the Great Seal of Georgia and the custodian of the state flag and other state symbols. The secretary of state also chairs the Claims Advisory Board, which receives, investigates, and hears civil claims against the state. Responsibilities of the secretary's office include supervising and monitoring elections and providing campaign finance disclosure, managing and preserving public records, and licensing, monitoring, and registering professionals and businesses.

Also running in the primary were Torri M. Hudson and David Belle Isle.

This page focuses on Georgia's Republican Party secretary of state primary. For more in-depth information on Georgia's Democratic secretary of state primary and the general election, see the following pages:

HOTP-GOP-Ad-1-Small.png

Election news

Click below to view a timeline leading up to the election, including polling, debates, and other noteworthy events.

Candidates and election results

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brad Raffensperger
Brad Raffensperger
 
52.4
 
611,616
Image of Jody Hice
Jody Hice
 
33.3
 
389,447
Image of David Belle Isle
David Belle Isle
 
8.8
 
103,272
Image of Torri M. Hudson
Torri M. Hudson
 
5.4
 
63,646

Total votes: 1,167,981
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Image of Brad Raffensperger

WebsiteFacebookYouTube

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office: 

Biography:  Raffensperger received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Western University and his M.B.A. from Georgia State University. His professional experience includes working as CEO of and owning Tendon Systems, LLC, a contracting and engineering design firm.



Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.


Raffensperger defended the state's final vote count in the 2020 presidential election. He said, "Me and all my other friends on the right side of the aisle were disappointed. But yup, those were the numbers. President Trump did come up short."


Raffensperger said that under his leadership, the state earned a #1 ranking in election integrity from the Heritage Foundation.


Raffensperger said he opposed federal voting legislation (such as HR 1) and called for changes to the National Voter Registration Act to allow for voter list maintenance within the 90-day election window.


Show sources

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Georgia Secretary of State in 2022.

Image of Jody Hice

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: 

U.S. House Georgia District 10 (Assumed office: 2015)

Biography:  Hice received a bachelor's degree from Asbury College in 1982 and his master's degree in ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1986. His professional experience includes working as a pastor and a conservative radio show host.



Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.


Hice criticized Raffensperger's handling of the 2020 presidential election and said that voter fraud affected the election outcome. At a debate, Hice said, "This past election was an absolute disaster under the leadership of Brad Raffensperger."


Hice's campaign website said he would "aggressively pursue voter fraud" and seek to make all vote totals reported on election night.


Hice said he opposed HR 1 and would fight its provisions in court should it become law.


Show sources

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Georgia Secretary of State in 2022.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign advertisements

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Republican Party Brad Raffensperger

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Brad Raffensperger while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.


Republican Party Jody Hice

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Jody Hice while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.


Republican Party Torri Hudson

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Torri Hudson while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.


Republican Party David Belle Isle

March 22, 2021

View more ads here:


Debates and forums

This section includes links to debates, forums, and other similar events where multiple candidates in this race participated. If you are aware of any debates or forums that should be included, please email us.

May 2 debate

On May 2, 2022, all four candidates participated in a debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting.[7]

Click on the links below for summaries of the event:

News and conflicts in this primary

This race was featured in The Heart of the Primaries, a newsletter capturing stories related to conflicts within each major party. Click here to read more about conflict in this and other 2022 Republican secretary of state primaries. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter.

Noteworthy endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. It also includes a bulleted list of links to official lists of endorsements for any candidates who published that information on their campaign websites. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please click here.


Republican primary endorsements
Endorser Republican Party Jody Hice
Government officials
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R)  source
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R)  source
Individuals
Frmr. President Donald Trump  source

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[8] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[9] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

The links below show polls for this race aggregated by FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, where available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation.

Georgia Secretary of State election, 2022: Republican primary election polls
Poll Date Republican Party Raffensperger Republican Party Hice Republican Party Hudson Republican Party Isle Undecided/Other Margin of error Sample size[10] Sponsor[11]
Survey USA April 22-27, 2022 31% 20% 5% 4% 40%[12] ± 4.9 559 LV N/A
University of Georgia April 10-22, 2022 28% 26% 4% 5% 37%[12] ± 3.3 886 LV N/A
Landmark Communications April 9-10, 2022 18% 35% 3% 10% 33%[12] ± 3.8 660 LV N/A
University of Georgia March 20-April 8, 2022 23% 30% 4% 4% 39%[12] ± 3.6 736 LV N/A
Emerson College/The Hill April 1-3, 2022 29% 26% 3% 6% 37%[12] ± 4.3 509 LV N/A

Election spending

Campaign finance

The chart below details campaign finance figures based on June 30th reports. To view more detailed information about each candidate in this race, click here to visit the Georgia Campaign Finance Commission's website.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[13][14][15]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

Election analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.

  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
  • Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
  • State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
  • Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.

Presidential elections

See also: Presidential voting trends in Georgia and The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Cook PVI by congressional district

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Georgia, 2022
District Incumbent Party PVI
Georgia's 1st Buddy Carter Ends.png Republican R+9
Georgia's 2nd Sanford Bishop Electiondot.png Democratic D+3
Georgia's 3rd Drew Ferguson Ends.png Republican R+18
Georgia's 4th Hank Johnson Electiondot.png Democratic D+27
Georgia's 5th Nikema Williams Electiondot.png Democratic D+32
Georgia's 6th Open Electiondot.png Democratic R+11
Georgia's 7th Carolyn Bourdeaux / Lucy McBath Electiondot.png Democratic D+10
Georgia's 8th Austin Scott Ends.png Republican R+16
Georgia's 9th Andrew Clyde Ends.png Republican R+22
Georgia's 10th Open Ends.png Republican R+15
Georgia's 11th Barry Loudermilk Ends.png Republican R+11
Georgia's 12th Rick Allen Ends.png Republican R+8
Georgia's 13th David Scott Electiondot.png Democratic D+28
Georgia's 14th Marjorie Taylor Greene Ends.png Republican R+22


2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Georgia[16]
District Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
Georgia's 1st 42.6% 56.0%
Georgia's 2nd 54.7% 44.4%
Georgia's 3rd 34.4% 64.4%
Georgia's 4th 78.3% 20.6%
Georgia's 5th 82.6% 16.2%
Georgia's 6th 41.8% 56.7%
Georgia's 7th 62.3% 36.5%
Georgia's 8th 35.7% 63.3%
Georgia's 9th 30.4% 68.3%
Georgia's 10th 37.7% 61.1%
Georgia's 11th 41.5% 56.8%
Georgia's 12th 44.3% 54.5%
Georgia's 13th 79.7% 19.3%
Georgia's 14th 30.7% 68.1%


2012-2020

How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:


Following the 2020 presidential election, 45.4% of Georgians lived in one of the state's 122 Solid Republican counties, which voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 35.4% lived in one of 27 Solid Democratic counties. Overall, Georgia was New Democratic, having voted for Mitt Romney (R) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Joe Biden (D) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Georgia following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Historical voting trends

Georgia presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 20 Democratic wins
  • 10 Republican wins
  • 1 other win
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R AI[17] R D D R R D R R R R R R D

Statewide elections

This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.

U.S. Senate elections

See also: List of United States Senators from Georgia

The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Georgia.

U.S. Senate election results in Georgia
Race Winner Runner up
2020 51.0%Democratic Party 49.0%Republican Party
2020 50.6%Democratic Party 49.4%Republican Party
2016 54.8%Republican Party 41.0%Democratic Party
2014 52.9%Republican Party 45.2%Democratic Party
2010 58.1%Republican Party 39.2%Democratic Party
Average 53.5 44.8

Gubernatorial elections

See also: Governor of Georgia

The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Georgia.

Gubernatorial election results in Georgia
Race Winner Runner up
2018 50.2%Republican Party 48.8%Democratic Party
2014 52.7%Democratic Party 44.9%Republican Party
2010 53.0%Republican Party 43.0%Democratic Party
2006 58.0%Republican Party 38.2%Democratic Party
2002 51.4%Republican Party 46.3%Democratic Party
Average 53.1 44.2

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Georgia's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Georgia, November 2022
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 6 8
Republican 0 8 8
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 14 16

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Georgia's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Georgia, November 2022
Office Officeholder
Governor Republican Party Brian Kemp
Lieutenant Governor Republican Party Geoff Duncan
Secretary of State Republican Party Brad Raffensperger
Attorney General Republican Party Chris Carr

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Georgia General Assembly as of November 2022.

Georgia State Senate

Party As of November 2022
     Democratic Party 22
     Republican Party 34
     Vacancies 0
Total 56

Georgia House of Representatives

Party As of November 2022
     Democratic Party 75
     Republican Party 103
     Independent 0
     Vacancies 2
Total 180

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Georgia was a Republican trifecta, with majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and control of the governorship. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Georgia Party Control: 1992-2022
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas  •  Eighteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Governor D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Georgia and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Georgia
Georgia United States
Population 10,711,908 331,449,281
Land area (sq mi) 57,716 3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White 57.2% 70.4%
Black/African American 31.6% 12.6%
Asian 4.1% 5.6%
Native American 0.3% 0.8%
Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.2%
Other (single race) 2.9% 5.1%
Multiple 3.7% 5.2%
Hispanic/Latino 9.6% 18.2%
Education
High school graduation rate 87.9% 88.5%
College graduation rate 32.2% 32.9%
Income
Median household income $61,224 $64,994
Persons below poverty level 14.3% 12.8%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


Election context

Georgia Secretary of State election history

2018

See also: Georgia Secretary of State election, 2018

General runoff election

General runoff election for Georgia Secretary of State

Brad Raffensperger defeated John Barrow in the general runoff election for Georgia Secretary of State on December 4, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brad Raffensperger
Brad Raffensperger (R)
 
51.9
 
764,855
Image of John Barrow
John Barrow (D)
 
48.1
 
709,049

Total votes: 1,473,904
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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General election

General election for Georgia Secretary of State

Brad Raffensperger and John Barrow advanced to a runoff. They defeated Smythe DuVal in the general election for Georgia Secretary of State on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brad Raffensperger
Brad Raffensperger (R)
 
49.1
 
1,906,588
Image of John Barrow
John Barrow (D)
 
48.7
 
1,890,310
Image of Smythe DuVal
Smythe DuVal (L)
 
2.2
 
86,696

Total votes: 3,883,594
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for Georgia Secretary of State

Brad Raffensperger defeated David Belle Isle in the Republican primary runoff for Georgia Secretary of State on July 24, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brad Raffensperger
Brad Raffensperger
 
61.8
 
329,708
Image of David Belle Isle
David Belle Isle
 
38.2
 
204,194

Total votes: 533,902
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia Secretary of State

John Barrow defeated Dee Dawkins-Haigler and R.J. Hadley in the Democratic primary for Georgia Secretary of State on May 22, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of John Barrow
John Barrow
 
51.5
 
264,864
Image of Dee Dawkins-Haigler
Dee Dawkins-Haigler
 
29.5
 
151,963
Image of R.J. Hadley
R.J. Hadley
 
19.0
 
97,682

Total votes: 514,509
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State

Brad Raffensperger and David Belle Isle advanced to a runoff. They defeated Joshua McKoon and Buzz Brockway in the Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State on May 22, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brad Raffensperger
Brad Raffensperger
 
35.0
 
185,386
Image of David Belle Isle
David Belle Isle
 
28.5
 
151,328
Image of Joshua McKoon
Joshua McKoon
 
21.1
 
112,113
Image of Buzz Brockway
Buzz Brockway
 
15.4
 
81,492

Total votes: 530,319
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2014

See also: Georgia secretary of state election, 2014
Secretary of State of Georgia, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngBrian Kemp Incumbent 57.5% 1,452,554
     Democrat Doreen Carter 42.5% 1,075,101
Total Votes 2,527,655
Election results via Georgia Secretary of State


2022 battleground elections

See also: Battlegrounds

This election was a battleground race. Other 2022 battleground elections included:

See also

Georgia State Executive Elections News and Analysis
Seal of Georgia.png
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Georgia State Executive Offices
Georgia State Legislature
Georgia Courts
2025202420232022202120202019201820172016
Georgia elections: 2025202420232022202120202019201820172016
Party control of state government
State government trifectas
State of the state addresses
Partisan composition of governors

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 NBC News, "Trump endorses challenger to Ga. Secretary of State Raffensperger," March 22, 2021
  2. Jody Hice's 2022 campaign website, "Endorsed by President Trump," accessed May 5, 2022
  3. 3.0 3.1 Reuters, "In race for Georgia's election chief, it's all about Trump and 2020," May 5, 2022
  4. The Hill, "Raffensperger knocks ‘double-minded’ Trump-endorsed challenger," January 9, 2022
  5. Brad Raffensperger's 2022 campaign website, "Real Solutions," accessed May 5, 2022
  6. Jody Hice's 2022 campaign website, "Platform," accessed May 5, 2022
  7. 7.0 7.1 C-SPAN, "Georgia Secretary of State Republican Debate," May 2, 2022
  8. For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
  9. Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
  10. RV=Registered Voters
    LV=Likely Voters
  11. The sponsor is the person or group that funded all or part of the poll.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Reported as "Undecided."
  13. OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
  14. OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
  15. National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
  16. Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012," accessed September 9, 2022
  17. American Independent Party