Independent Democrat

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For the South African political party, see Independent Democrats.

For the Iraqi electoral formation led by Adnan Pachachi, see Assembly of Independent Democrats.

Independent Democrat is a term occasionally adopted by members of the United States Congress to refer to their party affiliation.

The first Independent Democrat in the United States House of Representatives was Zadok Casey in the mid-19th century. Casey was a Jacksonian Democrat before becoming an Independent.^{[citation needed]}

Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was elected to the United States Senate in 1954 and served as an Independent Democrat in the 84th Congress until his resignation on April 4, 1956. In November of that year he was elected as a Democrat to fill the vacancy created by his resignation.^[1] Thurmond later became a member of the Republican Party in 1964.

Harry F. Byrd, Jr., a senator from Virginia, left the Democratic Party in 1970. He continued to caucus with the Democrats and referred to himself as an Independent Democrat.^[2]^[3]

U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut served as a Democrat but was defeated for the Democratic nomination in the 2006 primary by the businessman Ned Lamont by a 52%-48% margin. Lieberman decided to run as a third party candidate in the general election and won under the self-created Connecticut for Lieberman party, defeating Lamont – the official Democratic candidate – and the Republican candidate with 50 percent of the vote. Lieberman decided to caucus with the Democrats in the 110th United States Congress, referring to himself as "an Independent Democrat, capital I, capital D," in an interview with Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press a week following the midterm elections, thus assuring Senate Democrats that they would hold the 51-49 majority they won in that year's elections.

He is officially listed as an "Independent Democrat" in U.S. Senate records for the 110th Congress.^[4] This is distinct from Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is officially listed as an Independent (not an "Independent Democrat"), but who also caucuses with the Democrats.