I didn’t know what to tell this prospective candidate.

They (I use “they” to protect the innocent) want to run as Unaffiliated in a heavily gerrymandered Republican district. And they wanted my advice.

Why run Unaffiliated? “Because a Democrat doesn’t stand a chance, and voters deserve a choice.”

Much as I admire that, I wasn’t very encouraging.

“I think you’ll lose votes on both sides,” I ventured. “Politics is so tribal today, both parties will distrust you.”

Running Unaffiliated sounds good.

More voters in North Carolina are registered Unaffiliated today than Democrat or Republican.

People hate both parties.

Some members of both parties even hate their own parties.

There are successful Independent candidates.

Two are in the U.S. Senate, and both caucus with Democrats: Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Maybe that’s a New England thing.

In Texas, they say the only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill.