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Andrew Yang said on Monday that he has officially switched his political registration from Democrat to independent — hoping to be able to “be even more honest about both the system and the people in it.”
Yang, who first attracted attention by advocating for a “universal basic income” of $1,000 a month for all Americans, said he has been a Democrat his “entire adult life” and still has friends and colleagues in the party.
“And yet, I’m confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing,” he wrote in a statement released on his Twitter page.
“Please, keep in mind that I am NOT suggesting that you also change your voter registration to Independent, as I have done. Doing so could disenfranchise you if you live in the 83% of the country that is very blue or very red. For this reason, I considered either not making this change or not talking about it,” he said.
Yang, who has a book coming out Tuesday called “Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy,” said he feels he’ll be able to make a greater impact by leaving the Democratic Party.
“My goal is to do as much as I can to advance our society. There are phenomenal public servants doing great work every day — but our system is stuck. It is stuck in part because polarization is getting worse than ever. Many of the people I know are doing all of the good they can — but their impact is constrained,” he said.
“Now that I’m not a member of one party or another, I feel like I can be even more honest about both the system and the people in it,” Yang said.
The tech entrepreneur teased that he would launch a third party last month.
