Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has launched a new political party along with dozens of former Democrats and Republicans.
The new party will be called Forward and has been formed by former Democrats and Republicans who believe millions of Americans are disillusioned with politics in its current form.
Seeking to provide a viable alternative to their hoped-for millions of voters wanting something different, Forward is co-chaired by Yang and Christine Todd Whitman, former Republican governor of New Jersey, Reuters reports..
Advert
Yang previously attempted to become the Democratic nominee for the 2020 election, ultimately losing to current president Joe Biden.
This new party seems designed to hoover up the votes of Republicans who feel deserted by the lurch too far to the right under Donald Trump, while also picking up Democrats disillusioned with their party under Biden.
Styling itself as a centrist party, this new political entity declares that the answers to America's problems are to be found: "Not Left. Not Right. Forward."
Advert
Writing in the Washington Post, the party's founders pointed towards polling which indicated that eight out of 10 Americans thought their country was headed in the wrong direction, while two thirds thought the Democrats and Republicans had the wrong priorities.
Claiming the US electorate needs more 'choice and competition', they believe Forward can be a new option for people who think the current parties are pushing to extremes and want something in the middle.
They are aiming to be in a position to contest the 2024 US presidential election, though history is not on the side of third parties in the American political system.
Yang's new party wouldn't be the first to try and challenge the traditional two party system, US political history is littered with a string of failed bids to break the Democrat and Republican duopoly.
Advert
Third parties are kept from having much of an impact as the electoral college and the first past the post voting system makes avoiding splitting the vote crucial.
In US elections a presidential candidate doesn't need to get the most votes across the country to win, as George W Bush and Donald Trump discovered in 2000 and 2016 respectively.
Neither won the popular vote in those elections, but they got enough votes in the right places to pick up more electors and headed into the White House because of it.
For a third party to make a real impact it is going to have to outdo Democrats and Republicans in a majority of states, which is an unlikely prospect.
Advert
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]