Andrew Yang, who was a New York businessman and ran for president and mayor of New York, announces he’s leaving the Democratic Party.
As reported by NBC News, Yang changed his voter status to “independent.”
Yang was registered as a Democrat in 1995 and states that he remained a Democrat through his 20s.
He states that he’s made many friends and confidants in the party, but has since changed his political stance.
“I’m confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing,” says Yang. “It was a strangely emotional experience.”
Yang launched a bid for the presidency in 2017 before attempting to run for mayor of New York. Yang dropped out of the race for both president and mayor.
“The goal of becoming an independent 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,” says Yang.
“It is stuck in part because polarization is getting worse than ever. 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,” continues Yang.
However, Yang has not announced whether or not he will run in the presidential election in 2024.