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| Forward Party | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | FWD |
| Founder | Andrew Yang |
| Founded | October 5, 2021; 7 months ago |
| Split from | Democratic Party[1] |
| Headquarters | River Vale, New Jersey |
| Ideology | Human-centered capitalism[2] Radical centrism[3] Populism[4] |
| Political position | Big tent[5] |
| Colors | Indigo, blue, and red-orange |
| Slogan | “Not Left. Not Right. Forward.” |
| Website | |
| www.forwardparty.com | |
| Politics of United StatesPolitical partiesElections |
The Forward Party (FWD) is a political action committee (PAC) that seeks to form a new political party in the United States. The Forward Party has one political party affiliate at the state-level.
The PAC, which was founded by former 2020 presidential and 2021 New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, describes its goals as the reduction of partisan polarization and implementing electoral reforms.[6] The Forward Party was officially formed as a political action committee on October 5, 2021.[6] The PAC intends to seek recognition from the Federal Election Commission as a political party to achieve its stated goal of providing an alternative to the two major American parties.[7][8] However, it also states that for the time being, candidates affiliated with the organization will remain members of the two major American political parties, as well as independent candidates.[9]
History
Yang in 2019
In Yang’s 2021 book, Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, he announced the creation of the party. Yang also criticized American political leaders, writing that “our leaders are rewarded based not on solving problems but on accruing resources and retaining office.”[8][10][11]
Yang said that part of the reason why he wanted to start a third party instead of a caucus within the Democratic Party, was that a majority of states with ballot initiatives are red states, and that efforts to institute electoral changes would be partisan and not system-wide.[12][13] Yang stated that he would have liked to have implemented the Forward Party’s platform within the Democratic Party. However, he felt that the implementation of ranked-choice voting and open primaries would be difficult to get while remaining a Democrat.[14]
The Forward Party claims that it will endorse candidates of both major parties in the 2022 elections who support its policies.[14] Yang states that the Forward Party will not serve a spoiler because it will endorse any Democrats and Republicans who support the party’s platform. The Forward Party website suggests that candidates affiliated with the Forward Party will likely run as a member of one of the two major parties.[15]
Yang stated that the Forward Party is not interested in running a candidate for president, but is focused on trying to decrease partisan gridlock within Congress and state legislatures.[12] The Forward Party has stated it may hold its own primary process to nominate a candidate prior to the 2024 United States presidential election.[16] The party’s initial team includes former congressional candidate Blair Walsingham and attorney Jeff Kurzon.[17]
In February 2022, The Forward Party chose Minnesota as the first state to launch an affiliate party.[18] According to Yang, Minnesota was chosen because there are “open primaries, public resources for candidates [and the state has] an independent spirit.”[18] The Minnesota affiliate is being headed by John Denney, who ran for Congress in 2014 as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota.[18] Denney attempted to get Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, to run as a member of the Forward Party in the 2022 Minnesota Attorney General election.[18] Cory Hepola, a radio host, announced he was running for Governor of Minnesota as a member of the Forward Party in 2022.[19]
Political positions
The party’s platform includes instituting 18-year term limits for members of Congress.[12] It also seeks to establish a new cabinet-level Department of Technology. The party supports civic juries and advocates for a “citizens’ portal“. The party supports data as a property right.[20] The PAC calls for an economy based on “human-centered capitalism“, the enactment of universal basic income,[8][21] and support for alternative forms of measuring economic progress.[20]
The party advocates automatic tax filing,[22] and is in favor of “reasonable and rational” regulation of cryptocurrencies.[23] The party’s platform supports the implementation of a universal health care system,[24] and it encourages states to adopt nonpartisan primaries and implement ranked-choice voting,[8][21] a concept Yang draws from political theorist and businesswoman Katherine Gehl called Final-Five Voting.[citation needed] It also proposes independent redistricting commissions and public finance reform in the form of democracy dollars.[20] The party encourages people to maintain their membership in the Democratic and Republican parties as to not disenfranchise them by leaving them unable to vote in party primaries.[9][25] As a consequence, the Forward Party plans to endorse candidates from both parties as well as independents who advocate for the core values rather than field their own.[9]
Endorsements
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The Forward Party has endorsed candidates in state and federal elections for the 2022 cycle.[26]
| Endorsed candidate | Election | Political party | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isak Nti Asare[27] | U.S. House of Representatives, IN-9[28] | Democratic | Eliminated in the primaries |
| Wendy Hamilton[29] | U.S. House of Representatives, DC-At Large[30] | Democratic | TBD |
| Cory Hepola[31] | Governor, Minnesota | Independent | TBD |
| Andrew Kalloch[32] | U.S. House of Representatives, OR-4[33][34] | Democratic | Eliminated in the primaries |
| Larry Sharpe[35] | Governor, New York | Libertarian | TBD |
| Greg Tanaka[29] | U.S. House of Representatives, CA-16[36] | Democratic | TBD |
Reception
The Forward Party has faced criticism from some Democrats, who believe the party could have a spoiler effect and benefit Republicans.[37] Luke Savage of Jacobin criticized the conception of the party as “pseudo-populism that’s ultimately more an effort at rebranding the status quo than overthrowing it.”[38] MSNBC opinion columnist Zeeshan Aleem called the Forward Party “an uninspiring mess lacking vision or purpose.”[39]
Natalie Shure of The New Republic characterized the party as “vapid” and a “political stunt”, asking, “why bother going through the trouble of building a third party if its creation is the only thing it intends to accomplish?”[40] The New York Times‘s Kara Swisher praised the party, writing “Yang does not just give us a laundry list of intractable problems, but shows how we can find solutions if we think in new ways and summon the courage to do so.”[10]
