gadfly

One group was inspired by Justin Shubow, a gadfly who has made a career out of opposing modern architecture, and bankrolled by Thomas Klingenstein, chairman of the conservative Claremont Institute.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

That’s because in Austin, Harrison is viewed as a gadfly, with few legislative victories or allies.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2025

The publication was founded in 1955 by the legendary gadfly William F. Buckley Jr. as a salon for the various right-leaning fraternities in American life: fire-eating libertarians, orthodox Catholics, conspiratorial anti-communists.

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2025

But, in a new case, one gadfly is barred from going to meetings altogether.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2025

Concluding that economics, not politics, held the key to black success in America, Moore started a new career as a corporate gadfly, disrupting stockholders' meetings with pointed questions about racial policies and hiring practices.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

As is quite common for these kinds of third-party gadflies, Oliver has made a career out of running unsuccessfully in multiple federal elections.

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2024

There are always third party gadflies in presidential races and they can have an effect.

From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2023

Working the polls has long been something that retirees did, along with nice church ladies, neighborhood busybodies, local political gadflies and civics geeks.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2022

Most of the seats during the Anaheim council meeting I attended did end up getting filled — but it was the usual assortment of lobbyists, gadflies, local activists, and happy, mysterious men in sharp suits.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2022

Is this the sun's ray after a rainy day, that the gadflies come buzzing about one's head?

From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 09 Friedrich Hebbel and Otto Ludwig by Various