Building a New Party

It has been almost exactly one month since the new Forward Party was announced and the past days have been tremendous. Over 40,000 Americans have signed up at forwardparty.com and we raised over $300,000 from grassroots donors around the country – thank you! We now have energized volunteers in all 50 states and state leads in 32 of the 50 states, with new growth every day.

My expectations were vastly exceeded in terms of press treatment as well because we were treated as a mainstream new party – Forward is already a thing! We’ve already cleared a hurdle that most new entrants never do.

Now the real work begins.

What is a national party? It’s a few things: it’s a popular movement. It’s an organization that can impact the whole country. And, pointedly, it’s an assemblage of 50 state parties, each of which has to be incorporated and managed under a byzantine set of rules specific to that state, some of which are designed to be onerous and unfriendly.

So that’s at least 51 different orgs. That’s a lot.

Happily, we have the energy and people on hand to build them, as well as some road-tested expertise on how to get there.

This week on the podcast I interview Joel Searby, who is running Politics at Forward Party. Joel is a 17-year veteran of political consulting who, upon seeing the direction of the Republican Party in 2016, decided to help a guy named Evan McMullin run for President as an Independent. Joel is now one of the foremost experts on both building party infrastructure and independent politics.

“The rules vary wildly from state to state. In Louisiana you just have to file some paperwork for $1,000 and get 1,000 people to sign up. In a place like California you need to get either over a million signatures or almost one hundred thousand registered party members. In others you need to run a candidate who gets a certain percent of the vote. So some states we will be able to accomplish pretty easily and others we will have to build up to. We’ve identified 15 states that we think we can achieve recognition in or party status in by the end of this year. We think we can get to 35 by 2023 and shoot for all 50 thereafter.”

Is this not the most fun challenge you have seen in quite some time? It’s time to build a national party! We should have a giant celebration every time we get status in a state. Or at least a party there.

One major boost is that groups and organizations in different states have already expressed interest in helping us achieve party status in their state. We are gaining new friends all the time.

As much fun as that is, even more energy will come from candidates. Again, here we’ve had dozens of sitting elected officials as well as former candidates reach out to say that they’d like to join us. Many were involved with one party or the other before realizing that they wanted to provide something different.

“I’ve been in politics for almost twenty years and I have never seen people like we are getting. Ordinarily, the people who show up to politics are a mixed bag, with many gadflies. But here at Forward we are getting seasoned operators who have run companies or divisions or organizations. They have no agenda other than trying to build what the country needs. And I have seen waves of enthusiasm around launches – this one is sticking. We are attracting people for the long haul. I am pumped and have been drinking out of a firehose since launch,” said Joel.

I’ve been a part of various teams and movements, and the single biggest indicator of your path is the people you attract. Forward is getting GREAT people. With that as our foundation there is truly no limit to what we will accomplish. Joel is just one of them.

We would of course love your help! If you haven’t already done so, sign up at forwardparty.com and maybe donate a buck or two. Let’s heal a fractured nation and give rise to the movement that millions of Americans have been waiting for. It will be a lot of work, but what isn’t? This will be one of the greatest things most of us get to do in our lifetimes – provide a new sense of dynamism and possibility to a system that has stopped responding to people, families and communities.

So many Americans wonder what they can do to change things. Let’s give them, and ourselves, a clear answer and a different sense of the future.

Have you ever wanted to help build a national party? Well now is our chance, and not a moment too soon! And the first state to celebrate will be . . .

The Wind is Shifting

Hello, I hope all is great on your end!  Hard to believe the summer only has days left. 
 
I projected November about a month ago.  For a number of months it has looked bleak for House Democrats.  They have a narrow majority of just a few seats and the in-power party traditionally loses about 20 seats during a mid-term.  Biden’s popularity was abysmally low.  Prices at the pump were historically high.  The enthusiasm gap between parties was about 17 points favoring Republicans. 

More recently, things have changed. Voters have apparently distinguished between Biden and the rest of the Democratic Party. The generic party ballot has gone from plus-3 Republican to plus-1 Democrat in the last 3 months.

Perhaps the clearest sign was that Democrat share of the vote in the Washington state Senate primary – typically indicative of Democratic turnout nationally - was 55.4%, closer to the 58.7% peak in 2016 than the 48.5% in the Democratic wipeout of 2010. This was echoed in the Kansas referendum that defended abortion rights in a red state.

I had dinner with someone very close to the Democratic Party, and he expressed that the numbers in 37 swing districts they track had all turned positively for Democrats in the past month, particularly in terms of fundraising. On another note, Republicans earlier in the year were targeting a red wave of up to 50 seats, which may have led them to spend money in places where it turns out they didn’t have a great chance of winning. I’m sure they’re pulling back now.

The Senate races have similarly trended positively for Democrats, with some flawed Republican candidates increasing Dem prospects in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The Republicans Senate Committee just committed $28 million to support JD Vance in Ohio against Tim Ryan in a state that Trump won by 8 points. This is not money they wanted to spend – they’ve actually canceled ad buys in some other states that are competitive. JD Vance won with only 32% of the vote in a multi-candidate primary.

Note that this all happened even before the Inflation Reduction Act/climate and health care bill passed, which will energize some Democrats and give leaders some real accomplishments to talk about (though obviously the impact of the bill won’t be felt for some time). The White House is planning a national tour post-Labor Day including Cabinet members to make the case for both Democrats and the Administration.

On the flip side, Trump continues to dominate the Republican Party, and every time he appears in the news it’s harder for Republicans to divorce him from the thoughts of voters. Trump remains a good way to motivate Democrats.

I’ll confess – I thought that the Democrats’ chances of keeping the House this year were basically nonexistent. 538 still has the chances on the low side – about 22%. If Republicans win the House legislation will cease and we will see Hunter Biden laptop hearings. But now I think there’s a strong chance the Democrats keep the Senate and make the House competitive. This is a lot different than even a month ago.

Of course, the action really will heat up between Labor Day and Election Day. A lot can happen. But the momentum seems to be on the Democrats’ side. If it continues, they could potentially defy history.

The Forward Party is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds. I am looking forward to the Texas Convention in Houston on September 24th! We will be getting out there to support good candidates of every party – Democrat, Independent and Republican – and would love to have you join us!

Earlier this week Kim Iversen explained the Forward Party on Sabrina Salvati’s podcast better than just about anyone. You can see the video here.

A Narrowing Field

Hello, I hope all is great with you and that your summer has weeks to go! New Forward Party members are up to nearly 40,000 since our announcement and growing every day. We also welcomed former Admiral and PA Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak to Forward, which I am thrilled about.

Last week I wrote about Peter Meijer losing his primary to Joe Gibbs in Michigan because Peter had voted to impeach Trump and Dems backed his extremist opponent. Well, another member on the edge – Jaime Beutler – lost her primary as well. If Liz Cheney loses her primary this week, the number of House Republicans who voted for impeachment who survive will be down to 2 out of 10.

I spoke to Peter and he’s doing great – he remains fired up to do positive things in Michigan and beyond. Congress lost a good one. Peter will be back.

Trump’s hold on the Republican Party has grown ever stronger. I have been in the room with several moderate Republicans who were looking to challenge Trump. Their prospects just got a lot tougher. Trump could declare any day now, in part to respond to the rising legal actions against him. The Republican primary could easily become a formality.

“If Trump wants it at this point, I don’t see how it’s not his . . . it’ll be a coronation at this point, not a primary,” said one source within the party. Polls this week told the same story. Movements and campaigns flourish when there’s a clear us vs. them, and the overwhelming narrative is the White House and the government vs. Donald Trump.

On the Democratic side, the odds of Joe Biden running also have gone up, in large part because Joe sees it as his God-given duty to defeat Trump. He also believes he’s the only person who can do it, which, frankly, was borne out in 2020.

If Biden doesn’t run, then you would see a flood of Democratic candidates as there is no one who can clear the field – it might even exceed the 24 Dem candidates in the last cycle, in which Joe Sestak and I participated. This is one reason why I expect Biden to run again, as no one relishes the idea of such a fractious primary with Trump on the other side.

If Biden does run, would there be a challenge anyway? This week on the podcast I interview Lucy Caldwell, a seasoned political strategist and advisor to the Forward Party who managed Joe Walsh’s campaign against Trump in 2020. Lucy did so because she wanted to combat Trump. In that cycle, “They canceled primaries so there stopped being a path,” she said of the Republicans, who had little patience for the likes of William Weld or Joe Walsh challenging the incumbent. I would guess that the Democrats would do something similar to block out challenges from the likes of Marianne Williamson or Nina Turner, and no one in the establishment would enter the field. The press would ignore any shortcircuiting of the Democratic primary as the right thing to do to strengthen Joe’s hand and consolidate against Trump.

The Forward Party exists to present more choices and dynamism in thousands of local and Congressional races in a country driven apart by an increasingly dysfunctional two-party system. That dysfunction may be all too evident for the world to see in 2024. We have no time to waste.

The Forward Tour launches on September 24th in Houston. For the interview with Lucy click here and to sign up for the Forward Party click here. Let’s build the Party America has been waiting for. Together.

How We Learn About Candidates

Here's an excerpt from my book 'Forward' that describes Joe Sestak, who has just joined the Forward Party as an Advisor. This excerpt may also be relevant as the 2024 field gets shaped. Enjoy!

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How We Learn About Candidates

In the summer of 2018, I was invited to speak at a major Democratic grassroots fundraising event—the Wing Ding—in Clear Lake, Iowa. It was a huge coup for my fledgling campaign at that point. I later found out that I was invited because one of the organizers had heard me on the Sam Harris podcast—one of my first big breaks in terms of exposure earlier that year (more on this later)—and decided that I was worth hearing from.

For me, the Wing Ding was the first time I was getting the chance to address such a large group of people—a thousand—and in front of dozens of reporters. The venue, the Surf Ballroom, is most famous as the place where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper played right before their plane crashed six miles away in 1959, which was later christened “the day the music died” by Don McLean in “American Pie.” I tried not to dwell on that ominous history, though I absolutely love that song.

It was my first major political speech. It’s not my custom to make emotional appeals, but I also knew, from the numbers, that a knockout performance would get me 2.5 percent of the way to forty thousand if I somehow converted everyone in the room. I approached it as a potentially make-or-break moment for the campaign—the speech of my life up to that point. My team approached it the same way; they had me practice until I could speak without notes, hit my major points, and not go beyond my allocated time.

The four major speakers were me, Tim Ryan, John Delaney, and the headliner—Michael Avenatti. John and I were the only declared candidates for president as of the summer of 2018. Most candidates were waiting until after the midterms to declare. It was clear that Michael Avenatti was the draw. The press was salivating over the pugnacious lawyer, who had rocketed to fame as the attorney representing the porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Donald Trump, as a possible opponent for the Republican president. For his part, John Delaney had already spent several million dollars, including on Super Bowl ads in Iowa, and had opened ten offices in the state. I, of course, had zero staff and offices in Iowa at the time.

Approaching the ballroom, I saw it was surrounded by “John Delaney for President” signs that had been planted earlier that day. John’s giant blue tour bus and sign spinners—two guys who were very talented at spinning giant “John Delaney” cardboard signs—were very conspicuous in the parking lot. The Wing Ding was my first brush with presidential campaign pageantry as a candidate. It immediately made me feel small and self-conscious showing up with my three young staffers and a meager table with our one brochure.

Still, I was careful not to project any vulnerability. You have to be rock solid because your team will take its cues from you.

I went into the darkened ballroom and began shaking hands with whoever was nearby. Most people didn’t really know who I was, so it was a struggle to seem busy and not look awkward. One of my quick-thinking staffers started to bring people over to meet me including local officials.

The program was at least two hours long, with a long procession of local candidates and luminaries who gave brief speeches in support of their races. I met local candidates like J. D. Scholten and Rob Sand. Eventually it got to Tim, John, me, and Michael Avenatti. Tim gave a rousing speech about America’s never being knocked down. John spoke earnestly about consensus and bipartisanship.

It was my first time seeing their speeches, but not the last. Eventually, if you’re a candidate, you see each other’s stump speeches over and over again. Late in the cycle, I’d come to joke that Democratic fundraisers should have us draw names from a hat and deliver another candidate’s speech. Donors would pay big money to see it. By the end, I thought I could do a decent rendition of Pete Buttigieg or Bernie Sanders giving their go-to stumps. I can imagine someone parodying my stump: “The robots are coming, we’re doomed, give everyone money right now.”

In the Surf Ballroom, I heard my name called and jogged up to the stage. I talked about how our economy was transforming before our eyes, and why Iowans needed to lead the country in a new and better direction. It felt great. I got a standing ovation from much of the crowd, though the level of applause was likely inflated by Iowa courtesy. (If you want to see the speech, you can judge for yourself by searching online for “Andrew Yang Wing Ding 2018.”)

As I stepped off the stage, there was a small line of people who wanted to shake my hand. I wound up in conversation with John Delaney and his wife, April, who came over to compare notes. While we spoke, Michael Avenatti took to the stage to deliver the last speech of the night. Curious to see how it would go, I turned to pay attention.

Objectively, I thought Michael’s speech was awful. He read from notes the whole time—word for word. He went on for way too long—a full five minutes over the allotted time. Though his speech was filled with cliché-ridden talking points, the Iowans in attendance politely applauded on cue.

Watching all this, I thought, “Okay, anyone seeing this will take from it that Michael Avenatti is not serious.”

I could not have been more wrong.

As soon as Michael finished speaking, he was encircled by a dozen television cameras and journalists peppering him with questions about his presidential run. I didn’t even know half of these journalists were in the room until they swarmed Michael. They followed him in a scrum as he slowly gravitated toward an exit.

The next day the headlines ran “Avenatti’s ‘Swagger’ Stirs Iowa Democrats” and “Avenatti at Iowa Wing Ding: Democrats Need to ‘Fight Fire with Fire’” with glowing quotes from Iowans in attendance about how Avenatti had fired up the crowd and was an appealing counterpoint to Trump.

These stories barely mentioned me or Tim or John. To the national press it had solely been the Michael Avenatti show.

I realized that these journalists had come to Clear Lake, Iowa, for a story that had already been written in their minds. Avenatti, media darling, was exciting voters. His actual performance was incidental, and the speeches of any other candidates who happened to be there—including my big debut—might as well not have happened.

The Media Has Its Own Stories in Mind

There’s a common assumption that people run for president because they have big egos and it serves their sense of self. As candidates, they are afforded numerous opportunities to get their messages across because people want to hear what they have to say. Later, they are rewarded with lucrative TV contracts, speaking gigs, and a larger following.

This is seriously off base. Generally the opposite is true. Running for president is, by and large, an ego-destroying, humbling process. And the media is a very big part of that.

Imagine you are the author of thirteen books, including four New York Times number one bestsellers, and a spiritual leader with a following of millions. You count some of the most famous people in the world as your friends and confidants. You have founded a nonprofit that delivers food to people struggling with AIDS and co-founded a nonprofit for world peace. You have improved the well-being and spiritual life of droves of people and are adored and respected by them. You are wealthy, serious, and philosophical.

Then you decide to run for president.

Reporters respond with ridicule, scorn, and eye rolling. Journalists interview you with a patronizing air of skepticism when they decide to interact with you at all. Your past statements are taken out of context and used to ascribe to you beliefs that you do not hold. Eventually, you are denigrated as a wacko and a crystal lady. Everyday Americans contribute millions to your campaign, but that doesn’t seem to matter. You move to Iowa in order to connect with people and campaign your heart out for months on end, and your efforts are essentially ignored.

As you probably guessed, I’m describing Marianne Williamson, whom I found to be warm, generous, thoughtful, and driven by a genuine desire to improve the world.

Or imagine yourself as a former three-star admiral in the U.S. Navy who served for more than three decades and commanded the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf in 2002. You have led thousands of sailors who put their trust in you for their very lives. You have a PhD from Harvard and were second in your class at the U.S. Naval Academy. You were a two-term congressman from a swing state and led a nonprofit that promoted STEM education around the world. You see the direction that the country is going and its increased polarization, and you feel that a different type of leadership is needed.

So you decide to run for president.

You are ignored by most of the press. When they do talk to you, journalists regularly ask you, “Why are you running for president?” even though you spent decades in service and the answer ought to be pretty obvious. To the media, you are nearly a nonentity: major networks tell you they will not have you on air even to talk about foreign policy, which you are clearly better qualified to discuss than just about anyone, because they don’t consider you a legitimate candidate. You walk across the state of New Hampshire as a way to generate attention and meet with people, and that is generally ignored too.

That’s Joe Sestak, who struck me as a patriot and great man when I spent time with him on the trail. His daughter, Alex, suffered from cancer, which is one reason he got into the race late. She passed away in 2020.

I could go on and do the same exercise with perhaps a dozen other candidates. Running for president doesn’t serve your ego generally—quite the opposite. It isn’t much fun showing up to events that are poorly attended and stumping to disinterested audiences. I remember driving all day to New Hampshire to meet with a “crowd” of one person in a coffee shop or spending Labor Day in Iowa to address a tiny rally. The day-to-day positive reinforcement is spotty to say the least.

You believe in your message and hope that it will catch hold and that reporters will share your ideas with others who will then take an interest in you. And if you do start to grow a base of support you hope that journalists will notice and cover you more.

Instead, many members of the national media feel they have a responsibility to reinforce particular candidates and their “narratives” and dismiss others. They don’t just report on the news; they form it.

Country over Party

These have been incredible times for the Forward Party! Literally millions of Americans are eager to take control of our future and provide a new approach and alternative to the major two parties. The meetings and calls I have been on have been awesome.

We can’t act quickly enough. This past week, Peter Meijer lost his Congressional primary in Michigan to Joe Gibbs. I’ve met with Peter – he’s one of the 10 brave Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump.

Of those 10, four announced they would not run and two already lost in their primaries. Liz Cheney’s primary is on August 16th and things are not looking good. David Valadao in California and Dan Newhouse in Washington survived their primaries and may be joined by Jaime Beutler also in Washington.

That’s 3 out of 10 who might make it back to Congress. For those out there who question whether Trump still controls the Republican Party, a 70% elimination rate is extraordinarily high and virtually unheard of for incumbents.

Trump’s not done. He has been in Alaska campaigning against Lisa Murkowski, the lone Republican Senator who voted to impeach who is on the ballot in November.

Peter Meijer’s case is particularly egregious because Joe Gibbs, his extremist election-denying Trumper opponent, was supported by the Democrats. That’s right, the Democrats decided to boost Gibbs because they thought Peter Meijer would be a more formidable opponent in the general election. Their plan worked, though it remains to be seen if it will work in November.

I find this to be an absolutely awful message – Peter Meijer did the difficult thing and defended democracy against extremists in his own party. And Democrats, so driven by partisanship, decided that it didn’t matter if Peter did the right thing – they’d rather see him lose to an extremist to marginally increase their own odds.

Peter Meijer faced death threats over his vote. That kind of courage should be rewarded and lauded, not taken advantage of. The Democrats decided to put party over country. Peter clearly had done the opposite.

One reason I started the Forward Party was because it’s clear that hyperpartisanship is tearing our nation apart, and one of the only ways out is for more people to start putting country over party. Peter Meijer did it. So did Liz Cheney and Lisa Murkowski and Adam Kinzinger. Too many of these figures have been hung out to dry or even, in Peter’s case, undermined and attacked.

This week on the podcast I interview another figure who put country over party and endured death threats to do so – the new co-CEO of Forward Party, Miles Taylor. You may know Miles best as the anonymous author of “A Warning” and the NYT essay “I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” Miles was the chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security under Trump but left to publicly campaign against Trump’s re-election.

“I spent Election Day under armed guard in a safehouse,” Miles relates in our interview. After the election, Miles co-founded the Renew America Movement, an effort to combat extremists within the Republican Party.

“The environment we’re in today is an environment of enormous political intimidation,” Miles describes in our talk. “Someone like me from the national security community was pretty well-prepared, or as prepared as you could possibly be, to be on the receiving end of a vitriolic commander-in-chief . . . But the poll worker, the community leader, the school board member, the people we’ve heard from on the January 6th select committee hearings, those people weren’t prepared for the consequences of speaking out, and now it’s happening to everyday Americans. That’s what I worry about . . . we’re seeing by my estimates a tenfold increase in attitudes toward political violence now as opposed to before when Donald Trump was President. . . . it’s a really alarming environment and one of the indicators of why a pressure release valve is needed in our political system . . . I think a lot of the vitriol we’re seeing is driven by the fact that people feel there are no alternatives in the political system, there’s no peaceful way for them to convey their political opinions. ”

Over the past number of months, Miles concluded that the Republican Party was beyond restoration, and decided to join forces with Forward as part of our historic merger. Now we work together each day to build a third party movement that can truly give Americans a path forward and a way to express themselves that will bring us together. Miles is easy to work with, in part because after what he’s already been through, nothing fazes him.

We have some very exciting developments on the way – stay tuned! Our national tour begins in Houston on September 24th with dozens of other locations on the way leading up to our first ever national convention next year.

Miles, Peter Meijer, Lisa Murkowski and others are examples of the kind of selflessness we need in this tough time for the country. Can more Americans break free of the thrall of our current polarized time? Our goal with Forward Party is to make it easier for millions of Americans to do just that. If there are enough of us supporting them, we can make it easy, not extraordinarily hard, for people to do the right thing. Let’s build this new tribe as quickly as we can. Country over party should be the norm, not the exception.

You can check out my interview with Miles here and support the Forward Party here – we are growing fast and would love your help!

The New Third Party

What an amazing 48 hours! Upon the announcement of the new Forward Party over 20,000 Americans signed up in all 50 states; at one point every 35 seconds someone new was joining. We raised well over $100,000 in grassroots donations too, demonstrating just how hungry people are for a new alternative approach to our politics. Thank you for being part of it!

Perhaps equally important, mainstream news coverage of Forward was everywhere. Every major news outlet covered it, reaching nearly 40 million Americans on TV and radio alone. We trended #1 on Twitter and 500+ articles were posted about the new common sense party that Americans have been waiting for.

I’ve heard from myriad friends that people at work or online were curious – “Can a third party work? God knows we need one.” It has entered the consideration set for millions of Americans in a country where 62% of Americans want a third party and 88% think we are on the wrong track.

People want this – need this – to succeed. That is why we will.

But of course, nothing matters if we don’t start delivering. Most people will be eager to see what comes next.

Happily, that’s where our focus has been the whole time.

In real life, nothing happens without people working on it. This week on the podcast I interview Matt Shinners, co-CEO of Forward, for the background on how we reached this point and, perhaps more important, what the plan is.

A national party consists of 50 state parties. We are launching our national tour on September 24th in Houston, Texas and then heading to 15 states where we hope to be on the ballot by year-end. We already have ballot access or recognition in 4 states thanks to the merger. We will announce more Tour dates in the coming days so keep an eye out. Our goal is to be recognized in all 50 states by 2024.

There are about 506,000 locally elected officials around the country, from school board to city council members to county executives. More than 20% of these positions are non-partisan or uncontested; our goal is to recruit or elect 5,000 local officials by 2024. The fact is, many are functionally Independent and would love to join Forward to have a new base of support – some will come speak at our first national convention next summer. We already have many officials reaching out to us, so we are on our way.

There are important elections and ballot initiatives in November, just weeks away. Evan McMullin in Utah in particular presents an historic opportunity as an Independent running a competitive Senate race against a Trump-endorsed incumbent. I wrote about Evan here and Politico covered his race this week. Lisa Murkowski prevailing in her Alaska Senate race against another Trump-backed figure is crucial to demonstrating the power of open primaries and ranked choice voting. On that front, there is a ballot initiative for ranked choice voting and open primaries in Nevada that would dramatically transform the political landscape there. Clint Smith, Betsy Johnson, and Bill Walker are other independent candidates who are aligned with Forward. We have our hands full already in vital, competitive races.

And yes, people associated with the two major parties are reaching out to us to discuss joining us. The dysfunction runs deep, and some who are immersed in it are looking for a new home.

There is a balance between what national press will find interesting and what we have to do. We are building Forward for the long-term and want to put points on the board in communities now. We are doing this to help people, and the fact is your locally elected officials or other leaders in your community often have a greater impact on your day-to-day well being than someone in Washington D.C. Lasting change generally happens from the ground up.

These are exciting times. We would love your help building Forward. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up at forwardparty.com and perhaps make a donation. And then reach out to people in your network and say, “Hey, have you seen this new party? I think it’s exactly what the country needs.” That’s how the wave will build – on the ground in our own lives and in our communities.

For all of the interest in Forward, it’s up to us to build the party that most Americans want. Let’s deliver it to ourselves and reclaim our future as quickly as possible. The world is waiting to see what we do next. Take action today! We are just getting started.

HUGE News re: the Forward Party!

About 10 months ago, I left the Democratic Party.  I did so because I knew the country needed a new kind of party to help realign our politics and reverse the polarization that is tearing our country apart. 

Some of you reached out to help—thank you!!  It has meant the world to me.  Thanks to you, we enlisted volunteers in all 50 states and began backing both aligned candidates and reforms like non-partisan open primaries and ranked choice voting that would give our country a real chance. 

During my travels, I’ve met other leaders and organizers who recognize both the perilous state democracy is in and the opportunity for a new kind of politics; some of them have been working on alternatives to the two major parties for years. 

After hundreds of hours of meetings and conversations, we realized that we could do more together than we could apart.  We decided to undertake something that NEVER happens in politics—we would join forces. 

Today, I have some incredibly exciting news: The Forward Party is merging with two phenomenal organizations—the Serve America Movement (SAM) and the Renew America Movement (RAM)!  The new Forward Party will immediately be the biggest third party in the country by resources at the time you read this. 

That’s right—the new Forward Party is now the biggest third party in the country!  Our reach will expand very quickly.  We are already on the ballot in several states with a goal of 15 states by the end of this year, twice that number in ’23 and all 50 in ‘24. 

I now have amazing new colleagues who have been working their hearts out to put our country on a better path for years.  One of them is David Jolly, a former Member of Congress from Florida who has been leading SAM.  Another is Miles Taylor, formerly known as Anonymous, who has been leading RAM.  Former NJ Governor and Cabinet member Christine Todd Whitman (a Republican who endorsed Joe Biden in 2020), former Admiral and Congressman Joe Sestak, Reverend Ira Acree of Chicago, and many others are part of the Leadership Circle, with many more on the way. 

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. 

Thanks to SAM, we have a lot of experience building and supporting state parties. And thanks to RAM, we now are poised to reach a whole new audience of Americans who want to take this country in a better direction. Together, we are not left, not right, but Forward.

If the above weren’t exciting enough, we are announcing a national building tour starting this Fall—I’ll be on the bus—that will bring us to communities around the country culminating in our first national convention next summer!  With each stop, more and more Americans will join the Forward movement.  It’s going to be epic.

I’m super pumped about this.  If you were interested in the Forward Party but weren’t sure that it could make a positive difference, now is the time!  Sign up for our mailing list and maybe even donate a buck or two.  Find out if we’re coming to your town and how you can be a part of it!  We have no time to waste. 

It’s time to deliver the new approach to party politics millions of Americans have been waiting for—Forward!  Let’s go!!!

Two Sides of a Breaking Coin

Hello, I hope that your summer has been going great.  

This is a very exciting time for the Forward Party – we will be making a major announcement later this week!  It might even make history. 

This week on the podcast I interview Matthew Hoh, the US Senate Candidate for the Green Party in North Carolina.  Matt recently made news because the Democratic Party kicked him off the ballot despite his submitting thousands more certified ballots than required.  Their reasoning?  “There could have been fraud,” despite there being no evidence.

“This reminds me of some of the arguments made by Republicans,” Matt says in our interview, and it’s not hard to see what he’s talking about.  It’s apparent that the Dems simply didn’t want the Greens on the ballot.  

Many are concerned that the Republican Party has taken on an authoritarian nature in the age of Trump.  Brian Klaas wrote about it this week in an excellent piece in the Atlantic.  I agree with this read wholeheartedly, and distinguish between the tens of millions of Americans who identify as Republicans and the Party itself.  If one of two parties goes dark in a two-party system – as it has in the United States - the entire system can crumble very quickly. 

Logically then, some people see Democrats as the last hope for American democracy.  There are structural reasons why that’s not going to work.  As Klaas writes, “In a two-party system, the other side will win eventually,” particularly in a country where 88% of people think we’re on the wrong track.  For example, the Democrats are virtually guaranteed to lose the House in the Fall. 

It’s the system itself that needs to evolve.  Everything else is a holding action, at best.

And it’s not as if the Democrats are immune from political temptation.  They kicked Matt off the ballot, regardless of the laws as written, because it serves their short-term ends.  They are spending millions boosting extreme Republican candidates in primaries – those who are ‘threats to democracy’ – because they think these candidates will prove more beatable in the general.  This could come back to bite when some of these extreme candidates – for example Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania – wind up competitive in the general.  Indeed, there are officials rooting for Trump to run again – which he will – because they see him as the only candidate they can defeat.  Democrats in Nevada are spending seven figures fighting a November ballot initiative for open primaries and ranked choice voting because they see it as against their political interests, even though the Democratic Party of Nevada uses ranked choice voting in their own operations. 

If there’s one thing the parties agree on, it’s that competition is to be avoided.  The two parties have carved the country up like a turkey.  90% of Congressional districts are uncompetitive in the general election – most people have no meaningful say in their representation.  In this system there isn’t any real need for either party to actually tend to or respond to people. Problems get worse not better, and people lose faith and become dispirited and angry. 

When I was running for President, I would often say, “We automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs in the Midwest and the South.  That’s what turned many of those communities from purple to red.”  You know what no one would ever say to me?  “Wow.  When we get to 8 million we should really do something about it.”  The reality on the ground is irrelevant except to drive discontent, which is rising everywhere. 

There needs to be a new movement – and party -  that includes people of different backgrounds and beliefs to rise up and change things for the better. We are building it now; the Forward Party is gaining steam more quickly than I could have imagined.  And this week is an enormous week for us. 

One race in November that could demonstrate what a third-party movement can do is in Utah.  Here, the Democrats did something very selfless – they declined to run a candidate.  This has left Evan McMullin, an Independent, with a chance to defeat Mike Lee, a Trump-endorsed incumbent, in a competitive Senate race.  Utah is a state that Trump won by 21 points, and would ordinarily be thought of as entirely uncontested. 

Here, Democrats realized that they would be the spoiler.  And, after a year of courtship, they voted 782 to 594 to decline to run a candidate, despite being exhorted to do so by many within their ranks. 

This was remarkable in part because we rarely see this kind of perspective and patriotism from within our party politics.  Can millions of others break free and begin to put country over party and work together in new ways?  The survival of our democracy depends on our being able to answer yes.  

The Invisible Storm

Hello, I hope that your summer is going great!

Last week, I wrote that I expected Donald Trump to declare for 2024 by October. News came out that he is planning a September announcement. Time will tell, but I confess; I’d like to be wrong.

This week on the podcast I interview Jason Kander, author of the new bestseller “The Invisible Storm: a Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD.” Jason was the youngest statewide elected official in the country at one point as the Secretary of State of Missouri. He then ran for Senate and outperformed Hillary Clinton by 16 points in his homestate. You might remember his campaign ad in which he takes apart a rifle blindfolded.

He learned how to do that while serving as an army captain in Afghanistan. He details his tour in his new book, including some harrowing stories about friends being killed, pulling a gun on a cab driver who took him on a circuitous route, nearly shooting a child who had jumped onto his military vehicle, and being in dozens of conversations with unsavory characters who could potentially become hostile. These experiences left Jason with post-traumatic stress disorder, which took him years to recognize and grapple with.

His PTSD started to spill over into his family life after his return. Night terrors infected his wife’s mental state. He threw himself into his work in part to distract and ease his mind. His work became politics, which was a childhood ambition. He ran for office and won twice, lost a narrow Senate race and was considered a potential presidential candidate in 2020.

I remember announcing my presidential run in 2018, which didn’t get much notice at the time – if you’re OG YangGang, thank you! – and hearing about Jason as one of the other candidates in the field. He had started a voting rights org with operations in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Jason then made some more history – he announced that he had PTSD, and was withdrawing from politics to seek treatment.

He didn’t have to share this news. Political figures pull back all the time for myriad reasons. But Jason decided to share the truth, in part because he thought it might help others.

I’m sure that it has. Hundreds of people reached out to Jason to recount their own struggles with mental health, veterans and civilians alike. Friends of Jason’s from the military told him that they sought treatment due to his example. Jason now works for Veterans Community Project, an org that helps military veterans gain camaraderie and access tailored support that is expanding quickly.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Jason’s public decision has saved lives and done more good than the vast majority of presidential campaigns. Jason also saved lives by getting 1,800 Afghans out of the country during the Taliban takeover.

It was heartening to interview Jason this week – you can find the convo here and pick up his book here. It’s a universal story about trauma and family that most everyone would enjoy and get a lot out of.

I took a number of lessons from Jason: first, take care of yourself. I’ve pushed myself a number of times over the last number of years because I felt like my work was super-important. Alleviate poverty. Help millions of people. Reform America’s broken political system.

But you’re not good for anyone if you are breaking down internally or your family is on the brink. External validation doesn’t quiet the storm within; sometimes it makes it worse. Mind yourself and your family, which are often the same thing.

Second, sometimes sharing your story can really help other people. People respond to truth and struggle. Jason writes that he didn’t realize that PTSD can be improved and treated in a majority of cases, because he hadn’t seen that. Now, he’s a walking role model.

Last, measure success for yourself. What’s more important, waging a campaign or preserving your marriage, having a healthy daughter, and spending time with your dying grandfather? Jason literally experienced that tradeoff, and I have no doubt is glad for the way things turned out.

I’ll admit that reading Jason’s story struck me on a personal level, as someone who has run a campaign or two. I used to say, “I have two jobs: run for President and stay married.” Those two jobs were not exactly aligned all of the time. I’m grateful every day that I never had to choose.

November and 2024

Hello, I hope that your summer is going great! I’ve been getting some family time in, which has been wonderful.

Last week, a Monmouth poll came out that said that 88% of Americans feel the country is on the wrong track; that might be the highest level ever recorded. The top concerns in the poll were:

33% inflation
15% gas prices
9% economy
6% bill/groceries
5% abortion
3% guns
3% health care
3% unemployment
2% tuition costs
2% housing/rent
2% safety/crime

The top 4 all have to do with affordability, with 67% of Americans citing something to do with their pocketbook and economic circumstances.

It makes sense; the economy is on everyone’s mind. You get reminded of higher prices every day at the pump or picking up groceries. This is what forms the political climate.

These are terrible numbers for the incumbent, and Joe Biden’s approval rating has slipped to 36%. It’s one reason why most people expect a Republican sweep in November.

I expect that to play out in the House. The Democratic advantage is currently 5 seats. The average number of seats lost by the incumbent party in a mid-term is generally around 20 seats and this will probably be worse than that.

The Senate is a bit more complicated; the nature of the seats that are being contested in November favor Democrats just based on the number of Republicans who are defending seats and where the races are.

Republicans have nominated a couple candidates that are now in very tight races in Ohio (J.D. Vance vs. Tim Ryan) and Pennsylvania (Mehmet Oz vs. John Fetterman).

J.D. Vance of Hillbilly Elegy fame won the Republican Primary with only 32% of the vote. His popularity and connection are yet untested, and recent polling has Tim Ryan leading slightly despite the fact that Trump won Ohio by 8 points. I know Tim Ryan, and he’s a great candidate with a strong connection to Ohio.

Similarly, Mehmet Oz won the Republican Primary in Pennsylvania with only 31% of the vote, beating David McCormick by fewer than 1,000 votes. His opponent, John Fetterman, is a candidate with real energy among the Democratic base. Unfortunately, Fetterman was hospitalized with a stroke in May and has not campaigned publicly since, which leaves this race in a lot of uncertainty.

(Note that if both parties used Ranked Choice Voting, you would have candidates with demonstrated appeal with a majority of voters rather than only 32%. Better yet, you could do away with closed party primaries and open it up to the general public, which would really improve the process! This is on the ballot in Nevada in the Fall! But I digress.)

Georgia and Nevada are also tight. The stealth race that could determine control of the Senate is in Utah, where Independent Evan McMullin is taking on incumbent Mike Lee. The Democrats aren’t running a candidate, leaving Evan with a clear shot by uniting Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who are tired of Trump (who endorsed Lee). A recent poll had Evan within 4 points. Evan’s race is the most important race for Independents in the country and could be a model for success. For more on Evan’s race, click here. I’m backing Evan and hope you will too.

Still, if the House changes hands, what happens in the Senate will be dramatically diminished as we will have a divided government with Biden in the White House and at a minimum a Republican House of Representatives. There will be no major legislation, probably House hearings about Hunter Biden’s laptop, and Biden will be reduced to messaging and executive orders.

The attention will then turn to 2024: will Biden run for re-election? And who will he be facing?

Reporting has come out recently that Biden has been sending political operatives to the DNC and trying to manage the primary schedule. These steps strongly suggest that he is planning on running again, with a likely decision early in 2023.

Trump was leaning toward declaring in July, and has since shifted to indecision. I spoke to someone who had dinner with Trump recently and he said, “It sure seemed like he was running.” I think he chooses to run again – what else is there for him? – and makes an announcement sometime before October.

58% of Americans don’t want to see a Trump-Biden rematch – but that is likely what we are facing.

One thing about Biden – he does not respond much to naysaying and handwringing. He became a U.S. Senator at age 29 in 1972. He has run for President three times and now he has the job. He sees it as his God-given responsibility to defeat Donald Trump for all time. If he goes down, it will not be without a fight.

Things can change. Health concerns can arise. A lot of news will come out between now and November. But look again at the list of concerns driving the American people. How many of these things will shift in the next 3-and-a-half months? The pendulum of our increasingly dysfunctional two-party system will swing the way it has for years, while most of us look on and think, “There has to be something better than this.” There will be, but only if we build it.