‘You see a donkey, you see an elephant, we want people to see an owl’: Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic pitches his Cascade Party

Krist Novoselic is best known as the bassist of Nirvana, but the 61-year-old Aberdeen native has spent the last three decades building a second life in politics, one that has led him to chair the Cascade Party, a centrist third party he founded in Washington in 2024.

“Voters get their ballot, and they look for a cue, and you see a donkey, you see an elephant, and we want people to see and recognize an owl,” Novoselic said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “That’s our logo.”

The party’s pitch is simple, Novoselic said: fuel prices, groceries, and home costs.

“We are a new inclusive party in Washington State, and we’re with you, like you are,” he said. “We are worried about fuel prices, we’re worried about groceries, home prices, and we’re offering policies that could speak to that.”

From Democrat to independent to Cascade Party chair

Novoselic said he was a Democrat for years, rooted in a working-class upbringing. His father was a machinist and welder, his mother a hairdresser, and Novoselic himself was a union industrial painter before Nirvana took off.

“Beyond my wildest dreams, we were just like, we were the biggest band in the world,” he said.

After the band ended in 1994, Novoselic got pulled into local advocacy, fighting the Teen Dance Ordinance in Seattle and a censorship bill in Olympia. That’s where he discovered he was “a policy and process person,” fascinated by the legislative machinery most people ignore.

Novoselic became chair of the Wahkiakum County Democratic Central Committee but left in 2009.

“It was kind of another realization that, well, this really is not a really good relationship with this party,” he said.

Novoselic said the Democrats have moved too far left, pointing to former Governors Gary Locke and Christine Gregoire as fellow critics.

“There’s hardly any business people in the state Democratic Party in the legislature,” he said. “Where are the farmers in the ruling party?”

The Republican brand, Novoselic said, is equally toxic.

“We can help fill that space, but it’s not exclusive,” he said. “We’re not Republican Party light.”

Against the Climate Commitment Act, cautious on the millionaires’ tax

KIRO host John Curley pressed Novoselic on specifics. On the Climate Commitment Act, Novoselic was direct.

“We don’t support the Climate Commitment Act,” he said. “Climate change is real, the human effect on it, and we can debate about all that, but Washington State gas taxpayers, we’re carrying the whole weight of the world, like Atlas. The wildfires put out more emissions, so it just doesn’t really make sense. So we should at least have a gas tax holiday.”

On the millionaires tax, Novoselic was more careful.

“I’m the worst person to criticize any millionaires’ tax,” he said.

However, Novoselic said the threshold is more misleading than it sounds.

“In Oregon there’s no sales tax,” he said. “So it’s just about giving people relief, and then if your household makes a million bucks, but a couple makes 500k a piece, then they qualify. So see how it’s all of a sudden it’s not really a million. So that’s the whole thing behind it, too.”

Novoselic pushed back on the idea that Washington is falling apart.

“There’s a lot of prosperity in Washington State, compared to the rest of, not only the rest of the country, but the rest of the world — we are prosperous,” he said. “But then you hear all this moaning and groaning that things are going to hell, and then we need to have this millionaires’ tax to make everything better. Are things really going to hell? Not really in Washington State.”

Curley asked what it would take to tax him out of the state. Novoselic answered with a music history lesson, noting the Beatles paid 90% taxes but bought castles and Rolls-Royces with pre-tax money, and hired the London Symphony Orchestra for recordings since the income would be taxed away regardless.

“The high taxes were actually really good for Rolls-Royce,” he said.

Novoselic noted that he isn’t leaving and will continue to pay state taxes.

“I’m too connected to Washington State with my family, my community, historically, culturally,” he said. “Washington State is part of me.”

Candidates and what’s next

The Cascade Party has Jeff Kelly on the ballot for State House in the 38th District, covering the Everett, Mukilteo, and Tulalip area, and Damon Townsend running for Pierce County Auditor. The party is also working with Independent candidate Marsha Kelbon in the 24th District on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Novoselic said building a party takes patience.

“It is hard,” he said. “It’s hard to build a new party and to build a brand, but we’re in no rush,” he said. “We’ve been around since 2024, and we’re getting rolling.”

He compared the effort to his approach to music.

“I play guitar every day,” he said. “I’m just trying to find different chords and different things. So maybe that’s like Cascade Party, it’s just finding a different chord and just a different tune.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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