Tired of Being Right

Hello, I hope that your weekend was good. 

This week on the podcast, Zach Graumann and I unpack what happened on Election Day.  It got a little emotional.  Zach said, “Man, I’m tired of being right.” 

Coming from most people, that would seem a little bit self-aggrandizing.  But Zach hadn’t just opined; Zach moved to New Hampshire in January to help run Dean Phillips’ insurgent campaign against Joe Biden.  He put a ton into trying to get the Dems to do the right thing and hold a competitive primary. 

I was there too.  Dean’s campaign was real.  He put $5.8 million of his own in, raised another $1.8 million and got 19% of the vote in New Hampshire.  For those of you who supported our efforts for Dean, thank you – I hope you also feel good about that support now. Dean was running on the conviction that the Democratic Party was careening toward disaster in November with Joe Biden as the nominee.  The Dems fell all over themselves maligning Dean and protecting Biden, who would wind up dropping out less than 6 months later. 

Dean was proven right.  “We got 19% in New Hampshire and it could easily have been higher, but the press didn’t want to give Dean any credit,” Zach says.  “The Dems were much more concerned with keeping their place in line than listening to what we were saying.”

Zach and I had tried.  Then, months later after his disastrous June debate performance, Joe Biden pivoted to elevating Kamala Harris instead of allowing a hurried primary.  As we all now know, Kamala got swept in the swing states and lost the popular vote, failing to build on Biden’s vote total in any county in the United States.  The blame game is on. 

“From a comms perspective, it was malpractice.  What was the Dem message?” Zach comments.  “And the messenger couldn’t answer layup questions like ‘What would you do differently than Joe Biden?’”  We also discuss Kamala’s failure to go on Joe Rogan, which I described as madness given the size and nature of the audience.   

Zach has now run two presidential campaigns and written a book on one of them – that’s changed his perspective.  He’s left it out on the field.  Even for me, it’s a lot easier for me to say, “She should have gone on Joe Rogan” because I’ve actually done it myself and believe Joe would have been open-minded and fair.  Zach joked that he thought he’d feel better after unpacking the campaign, but it actually fired him up more to talk about it. 

One frustration that people have is that the Dems will learn very little from this loss.  If history is any indication, they’re in for a long road.  Meanwhile, Forward is growing quickly as people discover the need for a new approach.  Let’s speed up. 

For my interview with Zach, click here.  For my thoughts on what the Democrats should do, which they will ignore, click here.  To join Forward and build the new movement click here – there are a ton of new people joining right now. 

The Path Ahead

Hello, I hope that you and yours are doing well.

I wrote a piece in Newsweek about how the Dems lost and a POLITICO piece as to what the Democratic Party should do now. I don’t expect the latter to be heeded obviously.

25 Forward Party endorsed or affiliated candidates won their races, including John Curtis in Utah and Don Davis in North Carolina. The win rate of our candidates was 20%, which was about the best you can hope for.

People are taking different messages and lessons from Election Day. Here’s my take: The institutions are dying. People are losing faith right and left. Mistrust is a winner. If you try to sell me on your virtue, you’re probably full of it.

The Democratic Party has taken on the mantle of the institutions; things are working, nothing to see here, believe us and believe in us, the experts know best. The Republican Party has taken on the energy of Donald Trump; everyone is full of it, the institutions are lying to you, I may say things you disagree with but at least I talk like a human being, I don’t pretend to be good.

Not believing has become a lot easier than believing. Here’s how I put it in The War on Normal People:

“We have entered an age of transparency where we can see our institutions and leaders for all of their flaws. Trust is for the gullible. Everything now will be a fight. Appealing to common interests will be all the more difficult.”

That seems about right.

As the fabric frays and the institutions unravel, individuals rise to replace them. Trump is a movement leader who survived two assassination attempts. Elon Musk is the richest man in the world who owns a social media platform. Joe Rogan is a martial arts expert who is the most widely listened to media figure in America. They each represent avatars of individuality.

At our base, we prefer human beings to faceless corporations, change agents to the status quo in a time of widespread discontent.

So what now?

Do I think the Democratic Party will reform itself in some way? I’m not optimistic, even as I lay out the steps I would take here. The Party reminds me of a big company that has lost touch with its constituents, but has a big regulatory moat keeping it in place.

I’ve always thought that building new ways of doing things or companies or organizations is a lot more fun and positive way to spend time than hoping that an incumbent will all of a sudden have a culture change.

Not surprisingly, Forward has seen a surge of interest in the past number of days. People know we can’t do the same thing over and over again and hope for a different result.

I’ve feared Trump for a long time as an accelerant to the decline of institutions. He’ll be President again. It’s time to build, both a new political movement but also in our own lives closer to home. Families are institutions. So are schools and businesses and places of worship and even book clubs.

We always need great people in our lives. Start there. And yes, believe in them.

To see my piece in Newsweek click here and for my POLITICO piece click here. To join Forward to help build the new party click here – some phenomenal people are coming our way.

Abandon Policing Cultural Behaviors

Hello, POLITICO reached out to me to offer a candid take on how the Democratic Party can regain the public’s trust and revitalize American democracy. Here’s what I wrote:

Abandon Policing Cultural Behaviors

First, the Democrats should apologize for sandbagging Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary.

After, they should name Dean Phillips the new chair of the DNC, as the only Democrat with the character to sacrifice his own career for the good of the country.

Next, they should apologize for not having a competitive primary this year, which would have resulted in a vetted nominee and ticket with the buy-in of hundreds of thousands of voters. They will agree to always hold a primary no matter what, as it resulted in victories in 2008 and 2020, while not holding a competitive primary resulted in losses in 2016 and 2024. They should voluntarily adopt open primaries (and ranked choice voting) in all of their primaries, inviting independents to participate in their candidate selection process, as this group represents a plurality of Americans.

They should pledge never to back extremists in Republican primaries to boost a more beatable opponent in the general election, and they should agree never to keep minor parties or independent candidates off the ballot in states around the country. If you believe yourself to be the better option, you shouldn’t be scared of healthy competition.

They should back the Local Journalism Sustainability Act to provide a path for local journalism, increasing information going to the electorate. They should also back the Fair Representation Act as a way to fight gerrymandering and give voice to voters in the minority party of a district. Yes, they’ll lose some seats in Democratic gerrymandered states. What a message it would send to voters that they’d rather build a representative government than hold onto power at all costs.

Finally, they should adopt one central mission: improving Americans’ standard of living. They should abandon policing cultural behaviors, especially since many of their stances aren’t even popular with Democrats in real life. They should also create solutions for men and boys — who are struggling — instead of engaging in identity politics that excludes at least half of the country.

In many ways, these all boil down to one thing: The Democratic Party should act more democratically. But they will do none of these things. Instead, they will begin jockeying for position within the party to run in 2028. That is why more and more voters will look for options, like the Forward Party, or declare themselves independents as Trump returns to power. Institutions incapable of reform get replaced.

Why Did Kamala Lose? Blame Joe Biden and the Democratic Party

Hello, I hope you’re doing well after an intense election season. I just published a piece on Newsweek analyzing the factors behind Kamala Harris' loss and what it means for the Democratic Party moving forward — I thought you might find it insightful.

Why Did Kamala Lose? Blame Joe Biden and the Democratic Party

The election is over. Vice President Kamala Harris lost and former President Donald Trump won. How did this happen?

People are going to point fingers. Harris inherited President Biden's political team with some of former President Barack Obama's team bolted on, and they will all be very eager to divorce themselves from the loss. The less thoughtful will point to misogyny or racism or some combination. Yet while I'm sure the country's first woman president will experience a different kind of scrutiny, the real cause of the Dems' loss was their refusal to hold a nomination process.

President Biden's refusal to step down and allow a primary in January of this year is why the Democrats lost. If a primary had taken place, Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, J.B. Pritzker, Wes Moore, Andy Beshear, and others would have run alongside Kamala. The result would have been a strong nominee chosen by voters in a competitive process. If it had been Kamala — which you'd have to consider unlikely, based on her 2019 run — she would have been a different candidate who would have done scores of interviews and been fully prepped and toughened.

Kamala had well-established weaknesses. One is that she was attached to the current administration with all of its drawbacks. Another is that she struggles with sit-down interviews. When asked a question, she seems to be thinking, "What should I say here?" instead of, "What do I think and believe?" That's a critical flaw. Her team managed to avoid this in the presidential race for a while by focusing on the DNC speech and the debate, but eventually she had no choice but to conduct interviews, and the results were uneven at best. If your candidate can't win people over by talking to them or in front of them, it's a major problem.

By the way, I don't think this is that big a deal ordinarily. Many politicians are kind of unmemorable and resort to talking points whenever they sit down. But in a presidential campaign, it's glaring. People expect the President to be a strong leader and communicator, and talking points seem scripted and inauthentic. This is one reason why Kamala's campaign in 2019 didn't go well. Again, that's what a nomination process is for.

President Biden insisting that he was running only to drop out belatedly after his disastrous June debate and then endorse Harris short-circuited any chance for the party to meaningfully vet a candidate and field the strongest ticket.

There was one member of Congress who tried to force a nomination contest: Dean Phillips of Minnesota. His reward was a premature end to his political career and endless stories maligning his character. Dean tried to save the party from itself, but it didn't want to be saved; instead, it chanted "four more years" at a visibly declining 81-year old Joe Biden, who would drop out six months later.

A genuine nomination process would have made the Democratic Party seem much more functional, because, well, it would have been. Voters would have spoken, and the best candidates would have emerged. That never happened.

Even after Kamala Harris was the nominee, they could have gone bolder. She could have shown daylight between herself and Joe Biden on multiple fronts. I would have considered accepting RFK Jr.'s endorsement and giving him a role in trying to clean up food additives. Many of his followers are sincere. The Dems refused to take his call. I would have named Mitt Romney Secretary of State. As far as I know they never had that conversation. I would have said, "Ordinary Americans are fed up with bureaucracy. Democrats should be trying to deliver services efficiently. I will name a task force to minimize waste and deliver results." Take some of Elon's thunder. Who likes bureaucracy? Accept some of the grievances Americans have as being in good faith, and make yourself someone who redefines party orthodoxy to build a bigger tent.

But to do these things it would take someone — either the candidate or the campaign manager — with a real vision. The candidate matters. If your candidate is a particular person with real strengths and weaknesses, you can't make them into a different person or swap them out (more than once).

There were also issues with Harris inheriting Biden's team and campaign; there wasn't a multi-year arc of trust built up. I don't think the campaign team had confidence in Kamala to take on certain tasks. And instead of figuring out how to grow to a win, the strategy became trying to eke out a narrow win that eventually turned into a loss, despite a massive fundraising advantage.

Tons of campaign time was spent on raising money for ads that never moved the needle. There's a lesson there too.

Now the Democratic Party will say, "It's okay, we'll come back in '28!" Consultants will burnish their resumés by throwing someone else under the bus. Profiles will be written about the next crop of candidates for what they hope will be the next election.

Will they learn? Why would you imagine so after witnessing this year?

Fundamentally, the party has become insular — more concerned about itself than the people and families it pretends to represent. Conformity ruled over courage or common sense. Enough Americans have lost faith to give the reins of power back to Donald Trump.

No one should walk away from this thinking that the situation is tenable. The question should not be "Who's next?" but instead "What is next?" Everything, including a new political party that gets us beyond the tedious us vs. them, should be on the table.

—

If you’re exhausted by a system that isn’t working, it’s time to look forward — join the Forward Party and be part of the change we need.

Well that was Rough

Hello, I hope that you are doing well as we process Election Day results.  
 
I’ve had a sinking feeling about Trump’s return for months.  And that’s what came to pass.  It was also a very bad night for the democracy reform movement, as open primaries and ranked choice voting ballot initiatives came up empty in states around the country.  

Americans are in a bad mood and lurched to the right.  The anti-institutional fervor is growing, and belief in things like the news media is shrinking.  Trump filled the void through his populist appeal – he began to represent the man vs. the machine.  
 
What good is there?  A handful of Forward-endorsed candidates won locally, adding to a growing roster.  Washington D.C. passed open primaries and ranked choice voting to let Independents vote.  
 
Perhaps the only major good thing is that people are waking up to the fact that the two-party system is broken, and that the Democratic Party has lost faith among the American people.  I got numerous texts and emails saying, “I’m done” and “where do I sign up?”  People realize that a different approach is needed.  
 
The Democrats raised and spent a billion dollars – much more including SuperPACS – and got swept in the swing states.  They lost to Donald Trump for the 2nd time in 8 years, this time decisively, providing a mandate to someone they have presented as an existential threat to democracy.  
 
I’m saddened by this.  But the truth is that the Democratic Party lost touch with the average American quite a while ago.  What is needed is a popular movement that restores that connection.  Is that possible?  
 
On Election Night, I had the opportunity to meet with Forward volunteers in Philadelphia along with other Board members.  It was a small but earnest group.  Everyone had a wonderful time because of the nature of the people gathered there – warm and dedicated - even as the sobering reality of the night settled in.  Difficult times are easier with the right people around you.  
 
A friend texted me saying that rough waters are ahead.  I didn’t disagree.  It’s time to build a boat.  
 
If you’re ticked off, join Forward today.  
 
This is a sad and difficult day.  Absorb it.  And then let’s get back to work.

Election Eve

Hello, I hope that you are gearing up for Election Day.  I voted early.    

What is going to happen on Tuesday?  The first thing to know is that there’s a good chance we won’t know who won by the end of the night, so try to be patient.   

Who is going to win?  What’s fascinating is that I’ve gotten reports of confidence from both sides.  Both sides think that they’re going to win.  The Republicans are in “who is going to take what job” mode.  And Democrats who are looking at the early votes cast are confident that they’re going to pull it out, albeit narrowly. 

Their strategies are somewhat different.  The Democrats are trying to get out their voters and leaning on field teams and organizers.  It’s sensible given their monetary advantage. 

Republicans are reaching out to low propensity voters who are Trump-aligned but haven’t participated recently – hunters are one example.  Trump won in 2016 largely by getting new voters to show up.  You might think that well has been drained but the Republicans are testing it out again. 

“If the usual voters show up, the Democrats are confident they’re going to win.  If new voters show up then Republicans think it’s going to be theirs,” is how one person put it. 

I was on CNN this week trying to prod the Harris campaign.  I thought that Trump was going to win for quite a while – Kamala’s main path is to win Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  The sunbelt states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina seem to be slightly tougher terrain for her and better for Trump. 

I thought that passing up Joe Rogan was a missed opportunity, personally.  It’s a massive audience that’s predominantly male – kind of a gold mine. 

The expectation is that the Republicans will win control of the Senate – they only need to pick up one seat aside from West Virginia – and the Democrats are slightly favored to win the House.  In addition to the results that most people will be watching, I’ll of course be seeing how the Forward-endorsed candidates fare as well as the ballot initiatives to open up the primaries across the country.  This year I’ll be heading to Forward Party’s Election Night event in Philadelphia – it should be a phenomenal gathering. 

Will it be festive or funereal?  We’ll all find out soon enough.  As always, do what you can. 

If you’d like to donate to Forward so we can have better choices in our politics, click here.  Try to keep a level head, we'll all still be here solving problems no matter how this week goes.  

I started a Third Party. Here's Why You Shouldn't Vote for One in 2024

Hello, this week I wrote about voting third-party for the 2024 presidential election in an op-ed for Newsweek.

I started a Third Party. Here's Why You Shouldn't Vote for One in 2024

I started a third party. And I don't think you should vote for one in the presidential race this November.

How can those two things be true? Let me explain.

Back in 2016, after Trump's victory, I became deeply concerned that our economy was evolving in ways that would kick more and more Americans to the curb. I believed Trump won because we had automated away millions of manufacturing jobs in the Midwest. This would get much worse when Artificial Intelligence arrived and eliminated many other jobs. We were going through the greatest economic transition in the history of the world and were not meaningfully responding. I ran for President in 2020 as a Democrat to make the case for Universal Basic Income and a human-centered economy. We participated in seven presidential primary debates and raised money from over 400,000 grassroots donors, mainstreaming UBI and leading to cash relief being piloted in communities around the country.

But after my campaign ended, I felt despondent about the direction of American politics. Problems were going to get worse, not better. Congress had a 17 percent approval rate and a 94 percent re-election rate.

I concluded that the two-party system is not going to solve our problems, including poverty, so I started what would become the Forward Party in 2021 to reform the way we vote and provide more choices for Independents.

At the time, people were convinced they knew why I had started a third party: "Oh, Andrew Yang wants to run for President." Then and now, people were asking me to run just about every day. And of course, I want to make positive change with good policy. But I'm a MATH guy, and in 2021, I believed that if I were to run for president, I'd be more likely to do harm than good. I was convinced Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee, and because my supporters lean young, I thought that if I were on the ballot in 2024, I'd increase the chances of Donald Trump winning, which is the opposite of what I wanted.

You want the world to be a certain way. But you also have to be mindful of the practical impact here and now of your actions. We're adults and this election is going to matter.

That's why the Forward Party is endorsing over 100 school board, state representative, City Council, and congressional candidates around the country. You can see them here.

But we are not running a presidential candidate.

That strikes us as the smart, savvy, and responsible approach. My co-chairs now include Christine Todd Whitman, the two-term governor of New Jersey and Kerry Healey, former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, both of whom came to the need for reform from their time in office. Dozens of elected officials in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Colorado and around the country have affiliated with Forward. A party will not be built on any one person or during any one cycle; you need to be prepared to think and act long-term.

Yes, the country badly needs an upgrade from the dysfunction of our current political system. But it won't happen all at once.

On a personal level, I had to make a decision: What was the best thing for the country? I chose to stand down, and I'm 100 percent comfortable that this was the best decision. Each voter has the same decision.

Now, this could be endlessly frustrating to those of us who are fed up by both major parties and want an alternative. And a presidential campaign is a fantastic way to drum up interest and resources. I would know! Why vote for a candidate you are not excited about? Don't you deserve better?

Yes, you do. But here's the truth of it: Either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be the President of the United States in January. Your vote — especially if you live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia or North Carolina — could determine which of those two individuals wins. You should make sure your vote goes to whichever of those two candidates you would prefer to see in office. If you're having trouble choosing between those two, hunker down until you've made a choice and then vote accordingly.

Now, this does not mean you can't express your dissatisfaction with the major parties in other ways. If you live in a state where it's a foreordained conclusion who is going to win, then you're more free to vote however you like. Nationally, you can support an Independent candidate like Dan Osborn, who is running for Senate in Nebraska and is tied with the incumbent. You can support the campaigns for open primaries and ranked choice voting in Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Montana this November. You can join the Forward chapter in your state and make clear that you want to establish a voice for the 50 percent of Americans who are Independents and feel on the outside looking in at our current political system. Believe me, there's a lot to do. Americans deserve more choice and we are building the infrastructure to make it happen.

But you should not vote for a third party presidential candidate this cycle if you live in a swing state. It might make you feel like you are voting your conscience or voting for something different. In reality, you'll be voting for a lesser version of the status quo. And that's something that we should all be striving to avoid.

We deserve better. I don't think Donald Trump is the path to get there. Vote accordingly.

8 Days To Go

Hello, I hope that things are great on your end.  Halloween is a big holiday in my household because it’s also Evelyn’s birthday. 
 
It’s 8 days until Election Day.  If you think it’s been tough, imagine living in one of the swing states where political advertisements are constant.  I was in Pennsylvania and it was non-stop. 
 
This week I sit with columnist and commentator Rikki Schlott to talk what’s coming.  “Among the young people I talk to there’s a lot more excitement about Kamala than there was for Biden.  There’s a sense of relief that at least we have someone who’s not an old guy to vote for.” 
 
Rikki says that among the voters she talks to there’s a desire to move on.  “A lot of young people want to put the last few years behind us and act like things are normal again.  That’s likely good for Kamala.” 
 
I was on CNN this week and made the case that Kamala should name Mitt Romney as her Secretary of State.  Kamala Harris has already announced her desire to name a Republican to her Cabinet.  Mitt is no fan of Trump’s and got 61 million votes in 2012 among many of the voters that Kamala is now appealing to.  Think Nikki Haley voters, many of whom probably love Mitt. Mitt is leaving the Senate and could be open to a final act of statesmanship. 
 
I like this idea because it would make Kamala’s administration seem much more real and groundbreaking.  It would paint a picture and demonstrate leadership.  It would also represent a break from Democratic orthodoxy and make Kamala seem like her own person. 
 
You could go further too.  Folks like Jamie Dimon or Mark Cuban or Arnold Schwarzenegger could send a similar message, and you could balance them with some star Democrats. 
 
The more surprising the move the better.  No one will bat an eye if another Hollywood celebrity comes out for Kamala.  But Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs?  Tony Robbins?  Chris Christie?  Sitting with Joe Rogan?  That would get some people thinking.  
 
One senses that Kamala’s team knows it’s going to be extraordinarily close down the stretch.  They’re adopting higher risk moves like going on Fox, campaigning with Liz Cheney, etc.  They should be thinking, “What could we do in the final days that would move the needle?” 
 
Trump has the owner of a social media platform camped out in Pennsylvania giving voters $1 Million a day until recently.  The Democrats should be trying to stretch the boundary of what they’re capable of in the final days.  Otherwise, their commitment to democracy will be tested by a proud presidential candidate tradition they’re trying to avoid – a concession speech. 
 
For my interview with Rikki click here.  To check out the local candidates Forward is supporting including in PA, NV, and NC click here.  To join us for the Forward Election Night Watch Party in Philadelphia click here – it'll be historic and some great people will be there.  

What’s going to happen?

Election Day is only a couple weeks away.  What is going to happen? 
 
This week on the podcast I interview veteran pollster Frank Luntz to get his assessment.  “It’s going to come down to seven states, and each of them is essentially tied right now,” Frank says.  I asked him whether they all could wind up trending in one direction.  He said, “Each state is going to come down to different types of voters – Latinos in Nevada and Arizona for example – so they’re not necessarily correlated to each other.” 
 
The polls are very tight across the board.  “Kamala has raised and is spending $1 billion and it hasn’t broken the tie,” Frank observes.  After a surge as the nominee, Kamala Harris has settled into a point where it’s neck-and-neck.  Perhaps it’s not surprising that in such a divided country we are faced with a 50-50 race. 
 
“Trump is talking too much; he’s reminding everyone of why they wanted to move on from him.  And Kamala Harris is communicating too little for those who want to know what she’d do as President.  Whoever course corrects the most in the final days will have an advantage,” Frank says. 
 
I’ll confess that I’ve had a sense of foreboding regarding Trump’s return for quite some time.  If you’ve kept up with me, you know that I’ve been concerned about declining institutions and a general disintegration of the American way of life since I wrote The War on Normal People years ago during my presidential run.  I remember being surprised both by Trump’s victory in 2016 and by how close it was in 2020; each time he overperformed his polling.  It seemed that people either didn’t want to share they were voting for Trump or his voters weren’t being properly measured. 
 
I asked Frank whether the measurement errors of the past had been addressed.  He said that pollsters have tried to adjust their methods of gathering responses but there is no way to know until Election Day. 
 
Will Trump overperform the polls again in November?  If so, he almost certainly wins.  
 
I feel like the world has changed so much in the last number of years.  Trust and cohesion are down.  Alternate realities flourish on just about every social media platform.  Americans feel very ornery. 
 
I hope that Kamala edges it out.  Frank said, “I believe Harris very well could win at the margins, because the American people have never voted in someone who has a track record like Donald Trump in 2024.”  I spoke to someone who was around Donald Trump recently who shared that “his mental decline is evident.”  Yikes. 

On the other hand, Kamala’s recent media strategy suggests to me that they’re trying to change things up. 
 
It’s going to be close, that’s for sure.  We’re a deeply polarized country where 43 of the 50 states are already spoken for, and the voters in 7 states will decide which path we take as a nation.
 
I’ll be talking to my fair share of those voters.  The Forward Party Election Night Watch Party will be in Philadelphia.  If you know folks in PA, MI, WI, NV, AZ, GA, or NC feel free to gently reach out.  They’re in the driver’s seat.  I hope they choose wisely for the rest of us.    
 
For my interview with Frank click here.  To check out the local candidates Forward is supporting including in PA, NV, and NC click here.  To join us for the Forward Election Night Watch Party in Philadelphia click here.  In case you can't make it, I'll also be co-hosting a virtual rally with Open Primaries today at 6:00 PM EST to talk with campaigns around the country at the forefront of democracy reform.  History is being made in November one way or the other.  

The Path Forward

Hello.  I’m heading to Nebraska on Tuesday to campaign for Dan Osborn, who is running for Senate in Nebraska and is leading the incumbent in recent polls.  Dan is running as an Independent and represents one of the great opportunities in November. 

Forward has endorsed dozens of local candidates – we are running a fundraising campaign with a goal of $25,000 – if you are able to do so please donate $25 or whatever you can to Forward today.  It will help us do a lot of good. 

Thousands of people donate to Forward every year, which I’m immensely grateful for.  Imagine everyday Americans donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve democracy and present real choice.  We are doing the thing that others believe to be out-of-reach.  At some point in the future, people will look up and say, “Wow, they did what?” 

Dan Osborn is a huge overlooked opportunity, but there are others including Adam Frisch, John Avlon, Eric Settle and the other candidates that Forward has endorsed.  One candidate – John Curtis – is certain to be the next U.S. Senator representing Utah in Mitt Romney’s old seat. 

The two parties are spending billions beating each other up – I get multiple texts every day – while we are earnestly building the alternative on a shoestring. 

Still, we are not unmindful of the general election and all that is at stake.  Our activities in Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina and other contested states could be the difference-maker speaking to different audiences. 

As I put in a recent post:  “I get the frustration.  I just don’t think Donald Trump is the answer.” 

There are also half-a-dozen states that are considering primary reform a la Alaska- the subject of my TED talk that is now over 2.1 million views - including Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Idaho and South Dakota as well as Oregon considering Ranked Choice Voting.  These might not get the headlines on Election Night but they are very high-stakes. 

People ask what Forward is about all the time.  Forward is a positive independent movement to reform our politics by boosting reforms, supporting good candidates of any party, and creating a third party that can reduce the polarization, hostility and dysfunction that make our politics unresponsive to the problems of this age.  We have dozens of affiliated elected officials and our co-chairs include the two-term Governor of New Jersey, the former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts and a certain entrepreneur who wants good things for people.   

We’ve accomplished a lot over the last few years but we have a long way to go.  Thank you.  Let’s work for the best in November.  

To donate to Forward’s campaign click here.  You can also buy swag here.  And thank you again for your belief and support.