(NewsNation) — Andrew Yang is fed up with America’s two-party political system.
He’s so fed up, in fact, that the former presidential hopeful and recent New York City mayoral candidate has started his own party — the Forward Party.
“I think ideally we’d have something like five or six (major) parties,” Yang told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday. “Right now, you have this two-party system that is increasingly unrepresentative of reality.”
Yang’s Forward Party brands itself as a unifying bloc focused on practical, common-sense solutions, offering a political home to the majority of Americans who feel unrepresented by the left or right.
According to the latest Gallup polling, more Americans identify as independents (43%) than either Republicans (30%) or Democrats (24%).
“We actually have two minority parties that are running everything and driving us all crazy by trying to enflame us against each other,” Yang said.
The very foundation of that dichotomy has left Americans without a sense of agency, Yang argues, leaving millions of people to feel like their voices aren’t being heard and that their votes don’t matter.
For now, the businessman turned political candidate says his party is focused on winning smaller, local races around the country by appealing to moderates.
The hyperlocal focus reflects one of Yang’s broader concerns — the breakdown between communities and the people who represent them.
“It’s making us crazy,” Yang said. “We keep being told: ‘No, you know who’s to blame? The other guys.”
Yang said he supports term limits for Congress and ranked-choice voting but would not say whether he plans to run for public office again.
“My goal is to build this party into something that can actually transform and improve our politics over the long haul so I’m focused on institution building, which has been a lot of fun,” he said.