could any American explain to a foreigner how much freedom do federal legislators have to ignore their party, even to vote against it?
federal legislators includes representatives (HOR) and senators.
one could be tempted to think that on a fptp system the representative actually represents his district and not his party, something that should be clearer on a senatorial level.
However, there are no limits to political donations in the US afaik, which I guess means the rich and powerful ones can invest as much as they can to denigrate the other side, usually a democrat (correct me if wrong).
I don't know if there are like party federal committees that raise money nationally for or against abortion, death penalty, tariffs... and then each party decides how to allocate that money. I don't know if there are staffers in each party that decide which candidate is compliant enough to follow blindly what the federal committee decides and is not going to be a dangerous maverick because he actually has an independent moral compass.
Is it possible for local candidates to run against their own party and actually win? Like a rep