Krist and Politics

Krist Novoselic has now spent more of his life working on politics than he spent in Nirvana. What started as a fight over a music-censorship bill in the mid-1990s grew into three decades of work on how Americans vote, and since 2024 he has chaired a political party he helped found. This section of the site follows that path. For dates at a glance, see the Krist Novoselic timeline.

Krist Novoselic in a dark suit and tie speaking at a podium bearing the Washington state seal, between a U.S. flag and the Washington state flag
Krist speaking at a State of Washington podium, February 24, 2009, in a photo released by the Washington Secretary of State’s office. Photo: Washington Secretary of State (secstate-wa on Flickr), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The path in brief

  • Punk and Nirvana (1980s–1994). Krist says he was “politicized in high school” by punk rock, and Nirvana played benefit shows for causes the band cared about (Rolling Stone). More on the Early Interest & Nirvana’s Role page.
  • JAMPAC (1995). After Washington lawmakers tried to restrict “harmful” music, he founded 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 was active in the Democratic Party, chaired the Wahkiakum County Democrats, and in 2003–04 weighed a run for lieutenant governor before deciding against it (HeraldNet; TODAY).
  • 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 chair (2008). A FairVote board member since 2005, he succeeded former congressman John B. Anderson as chair in January 2008 (FairVote).
  • The 2009 Grange protest. He briefly filed for Wahkiakum County clerk under a “Grange Party” label to protest Washington’s party-preference rules, then withdrew (Seattle Weekly). That year he also left his post with the county Democrats and became an independent (KIRO Newsradio).
  • Zócalo Public Square (2020). He became board chair of the Arizona State University-affiliated civic-journalism nonprofit (Zócalo).
  • Forward Party (2023). He joined the Forward Party’s national board in May 2023 (KUOW).
  • Cascade Party (2024–present). In 2024 he helped launch the centrist Cascade Party of Washington, which qualified as a minor party that August. Members elected him chair at the party’s first convention in January 2025, and he still chairs it as of 2026 (Cascade Party; Cascade Party; KIRO Newsradio).
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.

In this section

A note on this section: novoselic.com is a fan site, not a campaign site. These pages try to describe what Krist has done and said, with links to the original reporting, and leave the arguing to him.

Last updated October 2026.