Andrew Yang came to Salt Lake City with a pitch: Utah doesn’t have to settle.
The former Democratic presidential candidate and co-founder of the Forward Party visited Utah for the party’s 2026 state convention this week. He sat down with Utah Political Watch to make the case that his fledgling political party is poised to make an impact in the Beehive State.
"Here in Utah, the Forward Party has the potential to be the second party, not the third," Yang said, arguing that voters are tired of the traditional two-party duopoly.
10 days - Utah State Republican and Democratic State Party nominating conventions (4/25/2026)
69 days - Utah's 2026 primary election (6/23/2026)
202 days - 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026)
937 days - 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028)
The party does have a modest foothold. State Sen. Emily Buss is the lone Forward Party officeholder here, but she’s facing what Yang acknowledged will be a tough re-election fight. Utah Political Watch rates SD11 “Likely Republican.” The district’s Utah Competitive Index sits at R+4.3, which means November could be more competitive than the label suggests.
The party is fielding 23 candidates for Utah Legislature seats in November, which Yang says is a reflection of real grassroots energy.
Yang casts this moment as an inflection point, and his party is well positioned to take advantage. He says 50% of Americans now identify as independents, and he argues the two parties are leaving the middle behind, including Republicans who voted for Donald Trump but are having buyer’s remorse.
"You're being told, 'Tough luck. You might not love us, but you like the other guys even less,'" Yang said. "Forward says that's nonsense."
The Forward Party’s pitch to voters isn’t ideological in the traditional left-right sense. Yang calls it solutions-first and pragmatic. Instead of a national platform, state and local parties decide which issues are most important to them. Candidates only have to pledge to follow broad principles like respecting the Constitution, supporting democracy, and working to find concrete fixes to problems in their communities.
His co-founder is Christine Todd Whitman, the two-term Republican governor of New Jersey who, he said, jokes the sequel to her book “It’s My Party Too” would be “No, It Isn’t.”
For now, the party’s focus is on local races. They’re betting state legislative races are winnable through retail politics—knocking on doors and building relationships with voters.
"You don't need statewide advertising budgets," Yang said. "You just need a lot of shoe leather and heart and soul and grit."
Whether that's enough to break through Utah's deeply Republican political structure remains to be seen. With the dominant party’s MAGA wing and traditional conservatives increasingly at war with each other, Yang is betting that there’s a coalition waiting to be assembled from the wreckage.
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