There's always been a small subsect of people in American politics who vote for a third party — neither Republican nor Democrat. But third-party candidates have never been taken very seriously, or received many votes nationwide. Two politicians want to change that.
Andrew Yang, a businessman and former Democratic presidential candidate, has teamed up with Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey. Together, they are the founders of the Forward Party.
"Well, what we've seen is our current system isn't working for anybody, frankly," Whitman told KMOX. "And voters are being given choices of extremes, taking the lesser of the bad. And a great part of that is because of the way we elect or choose our candidates."
"I'm a business guy, and it's all in the numbers," Yang added. "62% of Americans want a third party, including I bet most of the people listening to this. 50% of Americans say they're Independents. And so that the two parties right now represent they're essentially minority parties, and yet they control everything."
So what does the Forward party stand for? In part, open primaries and ranked-choice voting — an idea that didn't make it past the petition stage in Missouri this year. Plus, they say, "thriving communities, economic opportunity for all, security at home and abroad and respect for the Constitution and the rule of law."
Whitman added that the party is not going to have positions on every issue. "It's going to be up to the candidates to decide what reflects their views and the views of their constituents. And we're going to hold to our broad principles," she said.
Whitman said she's felt for a long time — since she wrote a book in 2005 — that the Republican party was moving far right in a way that didn't reflect the beliefs of most Americans. The nomination and subsequent election of Donald Trump confirmed that for her.
"The Republican Party did not even adopt a platform at the last convention," she said. "They only believe what Donald Trump tells them to believe at any particular time. And that's not a party, that's a cult."
Yang said he started exploring the idea of a third party when he realized that Democrats weren't focusing on all Americans.
"It makes me very sad that Democrats have essentially given up on rural areas. They've given up on places like Iowa, Ohio, Missouri. And that's not moral in the sense that we're all Americans," he said. "We all want to live better lives. And if you're a national party, you should be trying to make people's lives, frankly, even if they didn't vote for you, or if it's not, like, an area you're supposed to be strong in."
Hear more from Forward Party founders Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman on KMOX:
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