Andrew Yang says he’s officially left the Democratic Party

During his presidential candidacy, Yang advocated for causes ike UBI, or Universal Basic Income. He also proposed in December the mass tracking of COVID-19 vaccine recipients—be it a mobile app or physical bracelets.

According to Axios, Yang also has a book ready for release, titled Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy. The publicity for the book will "introduce us to the various 'priests of the decline' of America, including politicians whose incentives have become divorced from the people they supposedly serve."

Yang stated that, despite having "dozens of friends and confidantes who are entrenched in the Democratic Party" and having been a Democrat his "entire adult life," he never really felt he fit in as a Democrat:

"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," Yang wrote.

"I’m not very ideological. I’m practical. Making partisan arguments — particularly expressing what I often see as performative sentiment — is sometimes uncomfortable for me [...] I’m actually more comfortable trying to fix the system than being a part of it," Yang stated in the Monday press release.

There also exists speculation as to whether Yang will possibly be forming a third nationwide political party, and, if so, what that party's platform would be.