Andrew Yang, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination and later for New York City mayor, is preparing to launch a third party next month, Politico is reporting.
The announcement of the new party is reportedly set to coincide with the release of his book, “Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy.” Politico attributed the information to two people familiar with the matter.
The name of the party is not known and it is uncertain how Yang intends to use it in 2022 or 2024.
However, the book’s publisher, Crown, had this to say about “Forward” on the company’s website: “The machinery of American democracy is failing, Yang argues, and we need bold new ideas to rewire it for twenty-first-century problems. Inspired by his experience running for office and as an entrepreneur, and by ideas drawn from leading thinkers, Yang offers a series of solutions, including data rights, ranked-choice voting, and fact-based governance empowered by modern technology, writing that “there is no cavalry”—it’s up to us. This is a powerful and urgent warning that we must step back from the brink and plot a new way forward for our democracy.”
Crown continued, “With America’s stagnant institutions failing to keep pace with technological change, we grow more polarized as tech platforms supplant our will while feasting on our data. Yang introduces us to the various ‘priests of the decline’ of America, including politicians whose incentives have become divorced from the people they supposedly serve.”
Crown quoted businessman Mark Cuban as calling it “a vitally important book.”
Yang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, is a lawyer turned tech entrepreneur.
His use of social networks, support within the “Yang Gang,” and fundraising had at one point placed him among the top contenders of the presidential election, Agence France-Presse noted.
But he eventually withdrew after the New Hampshire primary in February 2020. He announced in January his candidacy for mayor of New York City. He lost in June.
