Forward Party (United States)

The Forward Party, often shortened to Forward (FWD), is a centrist political party in the United States. The party was founded by former Democratic 2020 presidential and 2021 New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang. Forward sees itself as being bottom up innovation. It describes its goals as the reduction of partisan polarization and the implementing of electoral reforms. The party is looking to achieve ballot access in all 50 states by 2025 and federal recognition by 2028.

Forward was officially formed as a political action committee (PAC) on October 5, 2021. The PAC intended to seek recognition from the Federal Election Commission as a political party to achieve its stated goal of providing an alternative to the two major U.S. political parties. It also stated that, for the time being, candidates affiliated with the organization will remain members of the two major American political parties and third parties, as well as independent candidates. On July 27, 2022, the Forward Party announced that it had merged with the Serve America Movement and the Renew America Movement to further its effort to form a new third party named Forward.

Ideologically, Forward is populist and reformist, and a representative of centrism in the United States. It considers itself to be the center within the American political spectrum, although the party has also been described as big tent or syncretic due to its unwillingness on holding any firm stances or positions, and its rejection of the left–right political spectrum. The party's American-style populism, particularly in its early platform, focused toward independent voters and those dissatisfied with the American two-party system, and advocated a universal basic income within humanistic capitalism. It continues to support electoral and democratic reform (favoring in particular: nonpartisan primaries), independent redistricting commissions, and ranked-choice voting.

The party's principles and positions have been positively commented by the likes of Kara Swisher, while they have been criticized by some on the American Left as a rebranding for the status quo, uninspiring and lacking vision, and questioned its populism and third party aspirations. Forward has also been criticized by some Democrats for the possibility of the spoiler effect that could favor Republicans; the party has disputed this claim.