Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur, author, and politician known for his 2020 Democratic presidential campaign and later role in founding the Forward Party.

Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur, author, and politician who gained national prominence during his 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, where he advocated for a universal basic income called the Freedom Dividend and warned about the impact of automation on the U.S. economy. After his presidential bid, he founded the Forward Party, a centrist political party, and his policy proposals have drawn interest in Canadian policy debates.

Early life and education

Andrew Yang was born on January 13, 1975, in Schenectady, New York. He is of Taiwanese descent and grew up in upstate New York. He studied economics at Brown University and earned a law degree from Columbia Law School.

Business and nonprofit work

Before his political career, Yang worked in the startup sector. He founded Venture for America, a nonprofit fellowship program that places recent graduates at startups in cities across the United States. The organization aims to revitalize economically challenged areas through entrepreneurship.

2020 presidential campaign

Yang announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in 2017. His campaign focused on the impact of automation on jobs and proposed the Freedom Dividend, a universal basic income of $1,000 per month for every American adult. He suspended his campaign in February 2020.

Later political activity

Following his presidential campaign, Yang ran for mayor of New York City in 2021 but lost in the Democratic primary. In 2021, he founded the Forward Party, a centrist political party aimed at providing an alternative to the two major U.S. parties.