Andrew Yang‘s Forward Party is merging with two groups, making it the largest third party in the United States by resources, the former presidential candidate announced on Wednesday.
The Forward Party, founded in October of last year, will now simply be named Forward, and it is bulking up with the intent of presenting a viable alternative to a two-party system that increasingly fails to represent the majority of the public, Yang and his gang of allies said in a joint op-ed.
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“We’re proposing the first ‘open’ party. Americans of all stripes — Democrats, Republicans and independents — are invited to be a part of the process, without abandoning their existing political affiliations, by joining us to discuss building an optimistic and inclusive home for the politically homeless majority,” the group wrote in the Washington Post.
The authors, which include former Florida GOP Rep. David Jolly, the executive chairman of the Serve America Movement, and former New Jersey GOP Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, the co-founder of the Renew America Movement, expressed the view that combining their groups would snap the losing trend for third parties.
Yang, a New York businessman who said he left the Democratic Party 10 months ago after ending a bid for New York City mayor, will co-chair the new party with Whitman, according to Axios. Another member, according to Yang, is former Trump administration official Miles Taylor, author of a 2018 op-ed criticizing Trump under the title “Anonymous.”
“What is the main objection you hear to third parties? ‘They can’t compete.’ Well, we are demonstrating that we can generate the resources necessary to elevate and elect candidates around the country with the support of tens of thousands of Americans and millions of dollars of grassroots funding,” Yang wrote in a blog post.
Forward’s website says the party purposefully avoids establishing a set platform and instead stands by three principles: “free people,” “thriving communities,” and “vibrant democracy.”
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Forward already has candidates in several states and aims to expand that to all 50 by 2024, according to Yang. His joint op-ed said the group is “planning liftoff at a national convention next summer and will soon seek state-by-state ballot access to run candidates in 2024 and beyond.”
