Books
The former White House Press Secretary discusses her frustration with the current state of both her former political home and the two-party system itself in her new book.
Born in France to Haitian immigrants, Karine Jean-Pierre became an immigrate herself when she arrived with her parents in New York City as a child.
She would go on to become both the first Black person and first queer person to serve as White House Press Secretary when President Joe Biden appointed her on May 5, 2022.
Having taken the job when she did, she had to routinely contend with questions from a skeptical and sometimes hostile press corps about Biden’s mental acumen, physical strength, and the likelihood of his not seeking reelection. And, she had to do so while being mindful of how most people perceive members of marginalized groups.
Jean-Pierre was familiar to many major Democratic politicians and party insiders at the time of her appointment. She had worked in assorted capacities for the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of John Edwards (2004), Martin O’Malley (2016), and Kamala Harris (2020), and the victorious ones of Barack Obama (both times) and Biden. She was on MSNBC as a political analyst and was an op-ed writer and memoirist (“Moving Forward” was published in 2019 and issued in paperback in May by HarperCollins). And, she had occupied the position of Principal Deputy Press Secretary to the woman whom she would succeed, Jen Psaki, for a year and a half.
Following Harris’ defeat in 2024, Jean-Pierre opted to leave the Democratic Party. This decision forms the basis of her brand new book, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines” (Legacy Lit, May 21). “Independent” explores to varying degrees how both her personal and professional lives led her to shed the only political affiliation that she had ever donned.
In the process, Jean-Pierre affords readers the perspective of someone whose presence was ubiquitous during the Biden-Harris administration.
Jean-Pierre will be at Boston College High School on Oct. 24 to discuss her new book. The event, which will be moderated by GBH News’ Saraya Wintersmith, was initially planned for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum but was moved because of the ongoing government shutdown.
Boston.com: How do you define being independent of the Democratic Party while still being in line with its ideology and policy objectives?
Karine Jean-Pierre: I’m definitely independent, but it’s very nuanced, right? I still very much agree with the Democratic Party and their ideology, I just think that the system is broken and things need to be fixed. And I am an independent in the sense that I don’t belong to any two main party affiliations, but I do believe that I still have a voice and hope that I can push accountability and awareness.
And it’s not just me. Millions of Americans who voted in 2020 didn’t vote in 2024. So there’s a disillusionment that exists. And there are millions of independents. Young people are becoming more independent because they don’t feel like their voice is being represented.
So my hope is to turn that into a form of power from the outside, and make sure that all of our voices are being heard and forcing the party to work for my vote. As a private person, I wanted to make sure that I spoke about this in a way that I was speaking for myself.
How does no longer serving as the White House Press Secretary enhance your newly embraced independence?
When you are working for the President of the United State as White House Press Secretary, you are not speaking for yourself. And I haven’t been speaking for myself for years, even when I was working for an organization before I joined Biden’s 2020 campaign. So this is the first time in years that I get to speak for myself. But you make that commitment.
I felt privileged and honored to be White House Press Secretary for Joe Biden. But now, I’m not running for office, I’m not part of any political affiliation, I am my own person, standing on my own. I wanted to, in this moment, start a conversation that needed to happen in order to try to make the system make more sense.
Is running for office as an independent of interest to you?
I have no plans to run for office. It’s not a calling for me, so I don’t have to worry about that. As a private citizen, I want to do my part for a country that I love and care about. Policies are being created to harm people, and that’s not okay to me. I feel like if you’re silent, you’re being complicit, and I cannot be silent in this moment.
Has leaving the Democratic Party given the Republican Party any appeal?
I’ve worked for Democrats my entire political career. I would not ever work for a Republican or even vote for a Republican. I feel like that party has totally lost it and is touting Project 2025, which harms people and takes away people’s protections and freedoms.
The Democratic party is the one that have been a member of for a long time, and what I want to see from that party is fight, teeth. If anything, an opposition to what we’re seeing right now. I don’t see that, and that’s the conversation that I want to push.
Given what you perceive to be the many benefits, do you think that it would be better for everyone to abandon their party loyalty?
When you belong to a party, you are belonging to a group, an organization, that you truly believe has your interests at heart. If you grew up in a Democratic family, it like part of your DNA, and sometimes you don’t question it because you’ve been in that party for so long. This book is not trying to convince people to become independent. It is explaining why I made that decision and at the same time asking people to ask questions. I think it’s important to do that.
And the point of the book is to start a conversation about how we envision the direction of this country. Power should be taken out of the hands of the White House and into the hands of the people. And that’s the book. It’s about the political system, the power that they people have, and how we push forward.
Is each of the parties is failing its constituents?
I think that the two-party system is broken. You had millions of people who stayed home in 2024 who voted in 2020 and didn’t feel that their voices were being heard. You have millions of young people who are deciding to become independent because they feel like they two-party system is not listening to them.
But, at the end of the day, we need both parties to be functioning in a way that people feel heard. If you have the leader of one party leaning into authoritarianism and fascism, that’s a problem. Then you have a Democratic Party that seems like they’re giving up their power.
I want the two-party system to work, so what I’m doing for myself is asking how I push that system to work from where I stand right now. And I feel like being an independent starts that conversation. The power has to be outside the party system in order to fix it, if that makes sense.
Are you still in communication with Joe Biden?
Yeah, I am. I spoke to him recently. He called me not to long ago to check in to see how I’m doing and to make sure I’m okay. It was quintessential Joe Biden. He’s someone who’s a fighter, someone who I admire and always will, and I learned a lot from working with him these past couple of years.
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
