Karine Jean-Pierre’s name has long been synonymous with Democratic politics. For over two decades, she moved in the highest circles of the party, serving both Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and ultimately taking center stage as White House press secretary. But this October, Jean-Pierre has stepped decisively outside the party lines that defined her career, publishing a candid new memoir, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, that lays bare her disillusionment with America’s two-party system and the turmoil that has gripped the Democratic Party in recent years.
In interviews with BET, NPR, and The Guardian, Jean-Pierre has been unsparing in her assessment. “I became an Independent because I wanted to see how to have a voice and fix things from the outside,” she told BET. “In order to have a working democracy, you need a two-party system that works, and right now, it’s not.” Her book, released on October 21, 2025, is both a personal account of her time in the White House and a pointed critique of the party establishment she once defended from the podium.
Jean-Pierre’s break with the Democratic Party did not come overnight. The catalyst, she recounts, was the tumultuous summer of 2024, when President Biden’s reelection campaign was rocked by a disastrous debate performance in Atlanta. Biden’s “faint and hoarse” voice, which Jean-Pierre attributes to a cold, quickly became the focus of a media frenzy questioning his age and mental fitness. “Everything that I’ve said at the podium was true then and it continues to be true now. This is someone – President Joe Biden – that I saw day in and day out. Now, did he age? Yes. He aged. People saw what they saw and I saw what I saw. Of course he aged. I’ve aged, we’ve all aged. We never denied that he was older and he was in his 80s. That’s something that we actually tried to own up to and did. His mental acuity for me never, ever came into question. I always thought this man was more than fit to serve,” Jean-Pierre told The Guardian.
But the fallout was swift and severe. Within hours of the debate, Jean-Pierre’s phone “blew up” with texts from reporters speculating about Biden’s health. The Democratic Party, she says, went into “full panic mode,” with key leaders like Nancy Pelosi and even high-profile supporters such as George Clooney expressing doubts about the president’s ability to continue. Jean-Pierre describes a wrenching three-week period as she watched party leadership, whom Biden had long considered friends, turn against him. “She wasn’t quiet about it; she was very vocal about it and she’s a force in the party,” Jean-Pierre said of Pelosi. “To do what was done to him, I thought, what’s going on? He had the right to make that decision. Every incumbent president has an opportunity to make that decision, especially coming from a successful presidency and a successful – in historical terms – midterm elections.”
Jean-Pierre’s account underscores a deep sense of betrayal. She contrasts the Democrats’ wavering support with the Republican Party’s unwavering backing of Donald Trump, regardless of controversy. “You have a whole different party – the Republican party – who are standing behind their guy 200%. It doesn’t matter what record he may have. They are saying to themselves, this is our guy – Project 2025, authoritarianism, the way they’re going to treat vulnerable communities – we’ll take that, we’re fine with it and we’re going to hold him up,” she told The Guardian.
The consequences of this disunity, Jean-Pierre argues, were felt at the ballot box. She points to a dramatic drop in voter turnout between the 2020 and 2024 elections: more than 81 million Americans voted for Biden in 2020, but Kamala Harris, who led the Democratic ticket in 2024 after Biden’s withdrawal, received approximately six million fewer votes. “Millions more people voted in 2020 than in 2024,” Jean-Pierre noted to BET. “That means people felt disillusioned, their voice didn’t matter, their vote didn’t count.” She believes the party failed to recognize the warning signs of declining enthusiasm, especially among young voters and marginalized communities.
Her critique does not spare the party’s approach to its most loyal supporters. In a chapter titled “Sisterhood,” Jean-Pierre reflects on the unwavering loyalty of Black women voters, who, she says, remain crucial to Democratic victories but often feel overlooked. “If you want to be a big tent party, you have to actually include everyone,” she told BET. “What I’m seeing is that they’re being thrown out of the bus. It’s not a moment for poll testing or politics. It’s a moment of human decency.” She warns that after elections, the concerns of Black women are too often dismissed as “identity politics,” while the party chases “moderate white Republicans.”
Jean-Pierre’s own experience as the first Black woman, first out gay person, and first immigrant to serve as White House press secretary was marked by unique pressures. She faced intense scrutiny, not just from the press but from within the administration. “The thing about being a first is yes, you’re breaking a glass ceiling and you have communities that support you, but there are some people who have never seen you in that role,” she explained to BET. “You have to operate at an A-plus-plus. You can’t have a bad day. If you do, you’ll hear about it.” She also recounts being undermined by colleagues, including a senior female White House official who, she claims, orchestrated negative stories about her in the press. “To come after you in that way is sad and heartbreaking and disappointing. I focused on the job. I didn’t fight back in any stories. I didn’t even defend myself and so I thought it was an opportunity to lay out what I was experiencing and what it was like in my role as a first,” she told The Guardian.
Despite the challenges and disillusionment, Jean-Pierre’s message is not one of resignation but of renewed engagement. She insists that being an Independent does not mean rejecting Democratic values outright. “You can still vote Democrat and be Independent,” she told BET. Instead, she urges Americans—especially young people—to think critically, demand accountability, and refuse to accept politics as usual. “I’m trying to start a conversation,” she said. “There’s a deep-seated problem in the two-party system, and we have to talk about it. If my book starts a conversation, that’s good. You can still vote Democrat, but do it because you believe in the values, not because you feel trapped by a party.”
Jean-Pierre’s memoir is a call to action at a moment she describes as perilous for American democracy. “We’re headed toward something that feels very authoritarian right now. Vulnerable people are being hurt and thrown away. We have to speak up in this moment.” As she steps away from the White House, Jean-Pierre hopes her story will empower others to reclaim their voice and reshape the future of political engagement in America.
