City and State wrote – “I think people are disenchanted with the process in America, and specifically in Pennsylvania, people don’t think that their vote matters,” Demme told City & State. “How do we make it so more people participate in that process? How do we make it easier to vote? How do we make it worthwhile for people to vote, and how do we make people think that their vote matters?” 

Demme said he and other Republicans in Lancaster thought not only that their party was “not reformable from within” but also that the entire system needed major reform. In conversations about how to combat polarization and get more people involved in democracy, they came across SAM. 

SAM began in 2017 out of Colorado, making its way to states like New York and Connecticut before growing into Pennsylvania. The party’s website says they want candidates who “rely on proven problem-solving principles to understand the challenges facing their communities.”