political underdog

An individual or group that is actively involved in politics who deal with issues that deal with a lot of political topics that most politicians that are from the political mainstream won't deal with, and take positions on issues that most politicians will not take. Often times the odds of them being successful are slim, even if their positions are good ideas, or the topic is worthy of the government's time and resources, and they have a decent amount of support among the civilian population, because of the amount of opposition they receive from other politicians and or political groups.

Kailani: I heard that U.S. Representative Brendan Boyle reintroduced the STABLE GENIUS Act, which would require presidential candidates to have a medical exam, including a mental health examination, and publicly disclose the results before the general election.
Ian: I heard about that. Regrettably, after the house voted to send the bill to the House Committee on House Administration, they never heard back about it. I suspect the bill might have encountered a large amount of opposition because most of the political candidates don't want to publicly admit that they have a mental health issue.

Kailani: It was generally a good idea nevertheless. Brendan is a good example of a political underdog.

the Political Underdog Squad

abbreviation: P.U.S.; The only members of the U.S. Congress to belong to nonmainstream political parties or registered as independent for a long period of time between 1971- 2021. They are Representative James Stanton, Senator Bernard Sanders, Senator Angus King Jr., Senator James Jeffords, Delegate Victor Frazer, Resident Commissioner Baltasar Corrada, Senator Harry Byrd Jr., Senator Dean M. Barkley, and Representative Justin Amash. All of them were independent, but Justin Amash changed to a Libertarian during his last year in office due to the barrage of partisan bickering from the Republicans and Democrats, which he was the first Libertarian to have held a seat in congress.

Why does the Political Underdog Squad matter so much? Because these politicians are the only politicians in Congress, over a fifty year period, be members nonmainstream political parties, which helps to keep the two mainstream parties in check.