The Cascade Party of Washington, Explained: Krist Novoselic’s Political Party

The Cascade Party of Washington is a centrist state political party that Krist Novoselic started in 2024 and chairs today. If you know Krist as Nirvana’s bassist and are wondering how he ended up running a party, this page is the short version: what the party is, what he does for it, how it got going, how it did in the 2026 election, and where it fits in his longer political story. It is a fan-site summary of public reporting, not an official party page, and we are not connected to the party.

Krist Novoselic in a red shirt and black hat playing bass on stage with two singers and a guitarist, a Cascade Party banner hanging behind him
Krist Novoselic’s Bona Fide Band at the Spanish Ballroom, Tacoma, July 23, 2024, with a Cascade Party banner behind Krist. Left to right: Krist Novoselic, Mark Pickerel (drums), Jillian Raye, Jennifer Johnson, Kathy Moore. Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What is the Cascade Party?

It is an independent, Washington-only party. Its own site describes it as “a home for people ready to move past the popular narratives which spread anxiety,” and as a member-driven association where members vote on leadership, bylaws, the platform and resolutions on a private social network that doesn’t track users (Cascade Party). Press coverage calls it centrist; the name refers to the mountains that divide the state, and its symbol is an owl (Spokesman-Review; KIRO Newsradio). In Washington it is a minor party, not one of the two major parties.

Krist put the branding this way on KIRO Newsradio in August 2026: “you see a donkey, you see an elephant, and we want people to see and recognize an owl.” He said the pitch centers on everyday costs like fuel, groceries and housing (KIRO Newsradio).

Krist’s role

Krist is the party’s founder and chair. The Everett Herald describes him as the founder, members elected him chair at the first organizing convention on January 11, 2025 (Cascade Party), and the party’s site still lists him as chair, with Marjorie O’Rourke as secretary and Erik Raistakka as treasurer (Cascade Party). He has also played with Krist Novoselic’s Bona Fide Band at party events, and several of the 2024 signature-gathering conventions were Bona Fide Band shows.

How the party got started: 2024 to 2026

  • Spring and summer 2024. Krist left the national Forward Party’s board to start a Washington-only party (Kitsap Sun). Under state law a new party has to nominate a presidential ticket to qualify, so the party collected petition signatures at summer “conventions,” several of them Bona Fide Band shows (Spokesman-Review).
  • August 2024. The party qualified as a minor party with 1,812 valid signatures. Its nominal ticket was Krist for president and James Carroll for vice president, and the Secretary of State approved the party’s request to take that ticket off the 2024 ballot (Washington Secretary of State; Cascade Party).
  • January 11, 2025. First organizing convention at Seattle’s Sorrento Hotel, where members adopted a platform and elected Krist chair (Cascade Party).
  • January 24, 2026. Members approved 11 resolutions at the party’s 2026 convention, covering housing, forest practices rules, the Interstate Bridge replacement, Sound Transit debt, medical billing, tobacco taxes and a proposed Peninsula County, among others (Cascade Party).

The 2026 election: candidates and results

The November 3, 2026 general election was the party’s first big test. Its one candidate with a Cascade party preference on the general election ballot was Jeff Kelly, running for state representative in Washington’s 38th Legislative District (Everett, Marysville and Tulalip) (WA Secretary of State). Damon Townsend, who sits on the party’s board, ran for Pierce County Auditor in a nonpartisan race, and Krist said the party was also working with independent Marcia Kelbon in the 24th District (Cascade Party; KIRO Newsradio).

The party did not win a seat. Kelly took about a third of the vote and conceded to incumbent Julio Cortes on November 5, saying he was proud that Cascade Party Washington “brought fresh ideas and a new voice to this election” (Lynnwood Times). Townsend trailed incumbent Linda Farmer by roughly two to one in the unofficial count (WA Secretary of State). Those numbers stay unofficial until counties certify on November 24 and the state certifies on December 3. Race-by-race numbers, with sources, are in our Nov. 3, 2026 election results post.

Krist’s earlier politics

Running a party is the latest chapter in a political life that started with music. The Political Career page has the full story with sources; the short version:

  • JAMPAC (1995). After lawmakers pushed bills to restrict “harmful” music, Krist led the founding of the Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee, which later fought Seattle’s Teen Dance Ordinance (HistoryLink; Seattle City Archives).
  • Democratic Party years. He chaired the Wahkiakum County Democrats and in 2003 and 2004 considered a run for lieutenant governor before deciding against it (HeraldNet; TODAY). He also joined the Grays River Grange in Wahkiakum County and later served as its master (HistoryLink).
  • The book (2004). Of Grunge and Government: Let’s Fix This Broken Democracy! mixed memoir with a case for electoral reform. See Krist’s Book.
  • FairVote (2005 to 2019). He joined the election-reform group’s board in 2005 and became chair in January 2008, succeeding John B. Anderson (FairVote). What he argued for is on the Political Agenda page.
  • The 2009 Grange protest. To protest Washington’s party-preference rules he filed for Wahkiakum County clerk under a made-up “Grange Party” label, then withdrew. That year he also left his county Democratic post and became an independent (Seattle Weekly; KIRO Newsradio).
  • Zócalo Public Square (2020). He became board chair of the civic-journalism nonprofit (Zócalo).
  • Forward Party (2023 to 2024). He joined the national centrist party’s board in May 2023, then left in 2024 to start the Cascade Party (KUOW; Kitsap Sun).

More on Krist and politics

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Last updated November 2026.

Sources: Cascade Party, Cascade Party 2026 resolutions, Cascade Party convention report, Washington Secretary of State, WA Secretary of State 2026 general election results, Spokesman-Review, Kitsap Sun, MyNorthwest / KIRO Newsradio, The Everett Herald, Lynnwood Times, HistoryLink, FairVote, Seattle Weekly, KUOW, Wikipedia.