A group of ex-Republicans and Democrats has announced the formation of a third party, the latest effort to break the duopoly that has dominated American politics for more than a century.
Co-chaired by former Democratic presidential and New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang and former Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, the “Forward” party is pitching itself as an alternative for centrists dissatisfied with the state of the two major parties.
“That’s right — the new Forward Party is now the biggest third party in the country! Our reach will expand very quickly,” Yang wrote on his personal website Wednesday. “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.”
The party is the product of a merger of three groups — Forward, the Serve America Movement (SAM) and the Renew America Movement (RAM).
SAM was founded in 2017 by former Florida Republican Congressman David Jolly, while RAM was launched last year and includes among its leadership prominent critics of former President Donald Trump — including short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, and CNN talking head George Conway.
Another prominent member of RAM is Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security official under the Trump administration and author of a notorious op-ed trashing the 45th president that was signed “Anonymous.”
Forward has yet to reveal a specific political platform, describing itself on its website as “steering away from far fringes of the Left and Right to find the common ground. That approach can solve almost every problem. Really. Anyone who is willing to work together to solve problems fits in the Forward Party.”
Yang told Reuters that the party is starting in a “very strong financial position,” with a budget of around $5 million.
“Financial support will not be a problem,” he promised.
Taylor told Reuters that while third parties have failed or faded into obscurity in the past, “The fundamentals have changed.
“When other third party movements have emerged in the past, it’s largely been inside a system where the American people aren’t asking for an alternative,” he said. “The difference here is we are seeing a historic number of Americans saying they do want one.”
The new Forward Party is joining an array of minor organizations vying to break the two-party system — including the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, Constitution Party and American Solidarity Party.
