Andrew Yang, the former long-shot presidential expectant and onetime technology entrepreneur, placarded on Monday that he’d left the Democratic Party and grow an independent. In an essay on his website, Mr. Yang, who made a passionate following in 2019 during the party’s primary race, illuminated his work for Levelers. He noted the deep hookups he’d developed with activists and imported leaders and the fund- increment he’d headlined, and he took credit for helping to name the party’s expectant, including President Biden. Yet he described the two-party system as “ wedged,” saying he could be more “ honest” about politics and politicians if he weren’t constrained by sanctioned registry as a Democrat.Mr. Yang offered his support for requisite election systems, like open primaries and ranked-choice voting, saying these were “ vital reforms” that would give deciders more choices in pushes.
“ I believe I can reach people who are outside the system more effectively,” he wrote. “ I feel more … independent.” Mr. Yang has bumbled to find his footing since rocketing to elevation during the 2020 race. One of the highest-profile Asian Americans to ever run a presidential blitz, Mr. Yang constructed a fiercely devoted following of disaffected choosers through offers like feeding every American with a universal beginning income of$ per month. After ending his dubious blitz, he joined CNN as a political annotator, started his own podcast, and moved to Georgia to help Egalitarians win the runoff Senate races in January. A shot for New York City mayor this spring ended in defeat after Mr. Yang lumbered to answer introductory questions about the functions of the megalopolis government and failed to piece on early motivation.
Last month, he posted plans to start his own political party called “ The Forward Party” — an idiom lifted from the last chapter of his new book. In an extract from his book published by Politico Magazine this week, Mr. Yang narrated the originality of running for chairperson and how the experience had inflated his sense of his own magnitude. “ I ’d been aC.E.O. and father of a company, but running for office was a different brute,” he wrote. “ Everyone in my route started treating me like I might be a presidential contender. I was getting a crash course in how we treat the really influential — and it was weird.” He added, “ It turns out that power actually gives you brain damage.”
