Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Forward Party to endorse midterm candidates this week

Andrew Yang, Forward Party

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang (above) is headed to Utah to help Evan McMullin, an independent running for Senate in Utah.

Marco Bello/Getty Images

The Forward Party, a new political entity led by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, is planning to announce its first round of election endorsements this week.

While Yang and Whitman would not confirm the list of candidates the party will endorse, Yang did acknowledge it will be weighing in on at least one particular Senate race.

“I will likely be heading to Utah to help Evan McMullin,” Yang said, referring to the Republican turned independent who is challenging the GOP incumbent, Sen. Mike Lee.


The Forward Party’s support for McMullin is not a surprise given that Yang previously announced his personal support for McMullin – and that McMullin founded one of the three organizations that merged to become the new party.

The current iteration of the Forward Party is the result of combining the original version formed by Yang, the Serve America Movement and the Renew America Movement. SAM was created by Republicans, Democrats and independents, and it is led by former Republican Rep. David Jolly. RAM, which started out as Stand Up Republic, was founded by McMullin, a former Republican who ran for president as an independent in 2016, and Miles Taylor, who served in Donald Trump’s administration. Its leadership team includes a number of other former GOP leaders.

According to Yang and Whitman, the Forward Party is going to endorse candidates in federal, state and local races, and the list will include Republicans, Democrats and independents.

The top priority on McMullin’s campaign website covers strengthening democracy and reducing extremism. He has been endorsed by the state Democracy Party, which decided to throw its support to him rather than running a long-shot candidate of their own. Recent polling shows Lee with a 7-point lead.

“Where we see an extreme candidate versus one leaning in our direction, that’s where we put our efforts,” Whitman said, explaining that they are looking for candidates who support two specific proposals to reform the political system: open primaries and ranked-choice voting.

Unlike the Democratic and Republican parties, which usually develop platforms on policy issues (health care, the economy, immigration, etc.), the Forward Party is instead focused on electing “solutions oriented” candidates who support three concepts it has identified as “free people,” “thriving communities” and “vibrant democracy.”

“Tens of millions of Americans want a positive unifying third party movement in the country,” Yang said.

The data backs up Yang’s claim. Last week, Gallup released its last survey on third parties, finding that more than half (56 percent) of Americans believe a third major political party is necessary because the Democratic and Republican parties do a poor job representing the people.

That includes 75 percent of self-described independents, 45 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats.

“We have dozens of conversations with people of both parties who are fed up,” Yang said. “Many are in conversations with us to join or work together.”

Since announcing the formation of the party in July, Whitman, Yang and the other leaders have relied on a grassroots effort to build support.

So far, the Forward Party has enlisted 25,000 activists across all 50 states, and “10 times that number” on the party’s mailing list or engaged in some other way, according to Yang.

Whitman believes that early growth, coupled with media coverage and events, has generated momentum that could accelerate with this week’s endorsements.

“Once we show them we’re real and the commitment we have and the spread we have, people will come to it,” she said, stressing that a small number can make a big difference. “But remember, we don’t have to get them all. You can make change .. with just 5 percent or 7 percent” of the electorate.

(Joe Biden won the popular vote in 2020 by less than 5 percentage points. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 by 2 points.)

In addition to engaging in the midterm elections and growing the party base, Forward leaders are continuing the work necessary to qualify for ballots around the country. Their goal is to be on the ballot in 15 states by the end of this year, double that by the end of 2023 and in every state by 2024. They intend to hold a national convention next summer.

“This sort of movement cannot succeed without thousands of us and eventually millions of us who want something better for our country than we can get with a dysfunctional two-party system that represents fewer people each passing day,” Yang said.

But they realize it’s going to take time to build the party.

“This isn’t going to happen overnight,” Whitman said. “But we’re committed to it.”

Read More

Microchip labeled "AI"
Preparing for an inevitable AI emergency
Eugene Mymrin/Getty Images

Nvidia and AMD’s China Chip Deal Sets Dangerous Precedent in U.S. Industrial Policy

This morning’s announcement that Nvidia and AMD will resume selling AI chips to China on the condition that they surrender 15% of their revenue from those sales to the U.S. government marks a jarring inflection point in American industrial policy.

This is not just a transaction workaround for a particular situation. This is a major philosophical government policy shift.

Keep ReadingShow less
Once Again, Politicians Are Choosing Their Voters. It’s Time for Voters To Choose Back.
A pile of political buttons sitting on top of a table

Once Again, Politicians Are Choosing Their Voters. It’s Time for Voters To Choose Back.

Once again, politicians are trying to choose their voters to guarantee their own victories before the first ballot is cast.

In the latest round of redistricting wars, Texas Republicans are attempting a rare mid-decade redistricting to boost their advantage ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Democratic governors in California and New York are signaling they’re ready to “fight fire with fire” with their own partisan gerrymanders.

Keep ReadingShow less
Arrests of Immigrants With No Criminal Record up More Than 1,000%, While Criminal Arrests Rise 55%: The Change at ICE Under Trump Administration

Since President Donald Trump took office for his second presidential term in January 2025, detentions of immigrants without criminal records increased more than 10-fold

Getty Images, fudfoto

Arrests of Immigrants With No Criminal Record up More Than 1,000%, While Criminal Arrests Rise 55%: The Change at ICE Under Trump Administration

Since President Donald Trump took office for his second presidential term in January 2025, detentions of immigrants without criminal records increased more than 10-fold: from 1,048 detainees to 11,972 (an increase of 1,042%), according to public data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency in charge of immigration enforcement within the United States

In the same period (January 1 to June 28, 2025), the number of detainees with criminal records rose by 55%, from 9,741 to 15,141.

Keep ReadingShow less
Doctor using AI technology
Akarapong Chairean/Getty Images

Generative AI Can Save Lives: Two Diverging Paths In Medicine

Generative AI is advancing at breakneck speed. Already, it’s outperforming doctors on national medical exams and in making difficult diagnoses. Microsoft recently reported that its latest AI system correctly diagnosed complex medical cases 85.5% of the time, compared to just 20% for physicians. OpenAI’s newly released GPT-5 model goes further still, delivering its most accurate and responsive performance yet on health-related queries.

As GenAI tools double in power annually, two distinct approaches are emerging for how they might help patients.

Keep ReadingShow less