It has everything to do with the OP. Local politicians are just the same as the swamp ones, as are the state-level ones, and the bureaucratic DC state extends its control all the way down to local level. And the electoral process is in the swamp’s control, and particularly subverted by the supposedly-independent judiciary—as Thomas Jefferson once noted in his letter to Spencer Roane (dated 09/06/1819), “It should be noted as an axiom of eternal truth in politics that whatever power in any government is independent is absolute also”.
Now the notion of a new party means not only one that can attract a massive number of new adherents, of course, but also one that can wrest the control of elections and the certification thereof from the usurped system. So in a sense, it’s a bit of a false dilemma to choose between the GOP (one branch of the Uniparty) and a new party unless those problems are overcome.
Like I told the OP we’re philosophers and ‘keyboard warriors’ here. I think you two represent that.
I want, and I want others here, to learn about local involvement.