(CNN) A group of former Republican and Democratic officials are forming a new political party called Forward, in an effort to appeal to what they call “the moderate, rational majority.”
“Political extremism is dividing our nation, and both major parties have failed to address the issue,” David Jolly, Christine Todd Whitman and Andrew Yang wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Wednesday. “Today’s outdated institutions have failed to sustain themselves. As a result, many Americans feel underrepresented.”
Jolly is a former Republican candidate from Florida, Whitman a former Republican governor of New Jersey and Yang is a former Democratic candidate and mayoral candidate for New York. The three will merge their political organizations into a new party, the launch of which was first reported by Reuters.
The group cites issues including guns, climate change and abortion as having modest benefits. The new party will also advocate suffrage and open elections, the abolition of race, and nationwide protection for voting rights.
“Sixty-two percent of Americans now want a third party, a record high, because they see that our leaders are not doing it,” Yang told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day.” on Thursday in a joint appearance with Whitman. . “And when you ask about policy goals, the reality is that most Americans really agree on the most divisive issues. The most divisive issues of the day like abortion or guns — there are and the state of commonsense assembly on these issues and every other issue under the sun.
The Forward is planning a national convention next summer and will soon seek access to the ballot to run the election in 2024, according to the Post op-ed.
The party said in a press release that it will embark on “a nation-building journey this fall to hear from voters and begin laying the groundwork for the expansion of state and federal party registration and electoral access, to based on a joint nationwide network of three organizations. .” It plans to achieve legalization in “15 states by the end of 2022, double that number by 2023, and nearly all U.S. states by the end of 2024.”
While Forward will not run in this year’s midterm elections, it will “support candidates elected in November who represent our democracy, even if they come from outside the new party,” according to a news release.
Jolly, Whitman, and Yang acknowledge the apparent lack of success third parties have had in the United States in the past, writing in their paper, “Most third parties in U.S. history have failed to take off, either because they were too narrow or the population. He was not interested. But they said that “voters want a new party now more than ever,” citing a Gallup poll last year.
“Americans of all stripes – Democrats, Republicans and independents – are invited to be part of the process, without abandoning their political affiliations, by joining us to discuss building a home of hope and one that includes many homeless people in politics,” Jolly. , Whitman and Yang wrote.
Asked by Keilar on Thursday why they believe their efforts to create a third party will work, Whitman said, “We’re at a different time.”
“When you have 50% of Americans who say they’re registered as independents…people are sick and tired of what they’re seeing in Washington and the fact that nothing major is being done upsets them. We want to see that they are resolved,” he said.
A few independent candidates have received national attention in their races for this bias. In Utah, Evan McMullin, who ran for president in 2016 as an opponent of Trump, is challenging Sen. Mike Lee is from the GOP and is supported by the state Democratic Party. Missouri, John Wood, former chief investigator for the House select committee investigating the attack of January 6, 2021, on the US Capitol, is still working as “another common method” in the field of Republican and Democratic candidates for the open US federal Senate. a chair And Oregon, Sen. Betsy Johnson, who left the Democratic Party last year, is the top contender in the governor’s race.
NOTE: This story has been corrected to indicate that Andrew Yang was not elected.
This story has also been updated with additional comments.
CNN’s Rachel Janfaza contributed to this report.
