Karine Jean-Pierre spent two decades inside the Democratic Party, working for both Presidents Obama and Biden, and ultimately serving as White House press secretary. Now, she is stepping outside the political structure that shaped her career. Her new book, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” is a personal and unapologetic reflection on why America’s two-party system no longer works for her.

“I became an Independent because I wanted to see how to have a voice and fix things from the outside,” Jean-Pierre told BET. “In order to have a working democracy, you need a two-party system that works, and right now, it’s not.”

Jean-Pierre said that during her time in the White House, she began to see “something broken” in both major parties. “When you are deciding not to pick the two-party system and you’re saying, ‘I’m going to be Independent because I don’t think either of those parties are speaking for me,’ then there’s something wrong,” she said.

“Independent” is also aimed at younger readers who feel disconnected from traditional politics. “When you look at the data behind Independents, the growing number are young people,” she explained. “Young people are feeling as if their voices are not being heard. The issues that they care about are not being lifted up. My thing to young folks, especially in this book, is this is the time to not step away. This is the time to get engaged.”

Jean-Pierre said she wants young readers to use the book as a roadmap for reclaiming power. “The power should not be in the White House,” she said. “It should be in the people’s hands. Once you have a party that thinks only about themselves or throws away institutions, then there’s a problem.”

She also called for Democrats to face hard truths about why voter enthusiasm has declined. “The Democratic Party should look under the hood, kick the tires, and figure out what happened,” she said. “How did we lose millions of people? That’s a problem.”

Jean-Pierre was referring to the dramatic drop in voter turnout between 2020 and 2024. Under President Biden’s ticket, voter participation reached historic highs, with more than 81 million votes cast for the Democratic nominee. Four years later, Kamala Harris secured approximately six million fewer votes. “Millions more people voted in 2020 than in 2024,” Jean-Pierre noted. “That means people felt disillusioned, their voice didn’t matter, their vote didn’t count.” She believes that decline in enthusiasm was a warning sign the party failed to heed.

Beyond the numbers, Jean-Pierre describes what she viewed as a betrayal of Biden by his own party’s establishment in the tense weeks before he withdrew from the 2024 race. Though she does not name names, she portrays the Democratic leadership as divided and unwilling to stand by the president as political pressure mounted.

That episode ultimately convinced her to step away from the party altogether. However, Jean-Pierre makes clear that being Independent does not mean rejecting Democratic values entirely. “You can still vote Democrat and be Independent,” she said. Instead, she says, being Independent is about thinking critically and refusing 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 also criticized the Democratic Party’s tendency to sideline marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ community. “If you want to be a big tent party, you have to actually include everyone,” she said. “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.”

As the first Black woman to serve as White House Press Secretary, Jean-Pierre also reflected on the pressures of representation, “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 said. “You have to operate at an A-plus-plus. You can’t have a bad day. If you do, you’ll hear about it.”

Still, she said her time serving the country remains one of the great honors of her life. “Being a White House press secretary was an honor and a privilege of a lifetime, and I would do it again,” she explains. “I was honored to have done it for Joe Biden, honored to have spoken not just for the president but for the American people.”

Jean-Pierre hopes “Independent” will empower people to think differently about their role in 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.”

“Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines” is out now.

Clay Cane is a New York Times bestselling writer and the author of the upcoming Burn Down Master’s House: A Novel, which will be released Jan. 27. Pre-order here.