Andrew Yang hopeful his 'Forward Party' can disrupt America's two-party system
Andrew Yangs hints at a potential 2024 run during an interview with Fox News Digital.
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang hinted at another bid for the White House, this time as a third-party candidate if President Biden and former President Trump aim for a rematch in 2024.
Yang, who ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary and subsequently competed in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in 2021, officially left the Democratic Party and has since launched the Forward Party.
Speaking with Fox News Digital at the libertarian FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas, Yang offered a restrained response over whether he intends to seek any office again, saying he's "super excited" to build the Forward Party nationwide, boasting its "robust volunteer operations and chapters in every state in the country."
"I think that Americans want more choices and freedom and options," Yang told Fox News Digital on Saturday. "And if that results in different people being able to run for office and in different environments, I'd be excited about that. I think a lot of Americans would be too."
But when asked if he's considering a third-party run in 2024, Yang did not rule it out, particularly if two unpopular candidates like Biden and Trump are on the ballot again.
"So there a lot of people that are not eager for a Biden-Trump rematch, but it seems like we may very well get that," Yang said. "And one thing I will say is that if that matchup is unappealing to you, then go to ForwardParty.com and let's make sure that Americans have more choices in your community but also in 2024."
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks at the libertatrian FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022. (Fox News Digital)
President Biden has repeatedly insisted he will run for reelection, but recent reports show Democrats are becoming increasingly worried about a 2024 campaign due to his historically-low popularity and concerns over his fitness for the job. Former President Trump, meanwhile, has teased another bid for the White House and is reportedly mulling over whether he announces his decision before the midterms, which is fueling concerns among some Republicans that his return to the GOP ticket could again hand the presidency to his Democratic rival.
During the interview, Yang refrained from saying Biden shouldn't run for president, believing it's for the president to decide and "the will of the people" to make him the Democratic nominee. He predicted that Democrats would ultimately "fall in line" behind Biden in the likelihood he seeks reelection and Republicans "not enthused" by Trump would do the same for the former president.
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However, he did highlight a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll from April that showed 58% of Americans would consider supporting a "moderate independent" candidate if Biden and Trump were to face off in 2024, which he suggested "illustrates just how unrepresentative our two-party system has become."
Regarding Biden's historic low-approval rating, Yang pointed to a "tough environment" as issues like inflation are top of mind for most Americans. He chuckled at the "not [so] flattering" sticker of Biden he recently saw at a gas station, saying the association between the president and the economic turmoil is on "many Americans' minds."
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks with Fox News Digital at the libertarian FreedomFest conference on July 16, 2022.
Yang similarly withheld criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he suggested was ill-served by the Biden administration that gave her mountainous issues to tackle, but acknowledged she would become the "frontrunner" as the sitting vice president despite her dismal polling if Biden chooses not to run. Notably, Yang previously outlasted Harris during the 2020 Democratic primary as the then-California senator dropped out of the race weeks before the Iowa caucuses while he withdrew following the New Hampshire primary.
When asked who should seek the Democratic nomination, Yang suggested he'd back a governor in an open primary for their "executive experience" but declined to name one in particular.
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Yang is highly ambitious about the Forward Party, whose slogan is "Not left. Not right. Forward." During the interview, he refers to it as a "political movement."
"The Forward Party is meant to appeal to the 62% of Americans who don't think that the two-party system is working very well. And we need to face facts that right now the two parties have carved the country up like a turkey and said ‘You have that section, I have this section,’ and many of us are on the outside looking in- in our communities," Yang told Fox News. "We want to change that with the Forward Party to create a positive, unifying political movement to shift from the closed-party primaries that are rigged and uncompetitive in 90% of districts and shift to nonpartisan, open primaries where anyone can vote for anyone at any party coupled with rank choice voting. This would mean that you'd have genuine choice in your representatives, but it would also introduce better incentives to the people who do win office because they'd have to listen to us even if we're not in their party."
Andrew Yang urges for the disruption of the two-party system at the libertarian FreedomFest conference on July 16, 2022. (Fox News Digital)
The tech businessman-turned-political leader insists the Forward Party goes "well beyond" the more prominent Libertarian Party, asserting his movement wants a government "more responsive and accountable," citing items in the party's platform like term limits.
And he predicted his party will be embraced "more quickly than most people think" despite the hurdles ahead.
"Imagine if you were a business person, and you arrived at a marketplace that had two providers and 62% of people wanted a new option. You would run, not walk, to start that third option," Yang said, "and the way that we can unlock this movement is to shift to open primaries via ballot initiatives in states like Nevada where we are right now. It's actually on the ballot in Nevada, this November to make the change to open primaries and rank choice voting. And the Democrats here in Nevada, aren't fans of this initiative because they know what it would introduce genuine competition… The two parties are in cahoots in most of the country."
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"And so if you say,' Look, this seems like a difficult task,' well, it's an important task because we need to modernize our politics to actually be representative of the will and desire of the American people. But we can make it happen right here in Nevada in November and there are 23 other states where you can have ballot initiatives of enough let's get together and say, 'look, we're sick and tired of being told who we kind of can vote for. Here in Nevada, when you go with a clipboard and say would you like to be able to vote for anyone at any party in your primary, everyone says yes! Who the heck is against that? Only someone who is like a hyper-partisan, who frankly is more about their party's control than they are about delivering any kind of representative government."
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