1. Andrew Yang is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, political commentator, and author.
61 Facts About Andrew Yang
1. 2.
Andrew Yang founded the political party and action committee Forward Party in 2021, for which he serves as co-chair alongside former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and Michael S Willner.
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The son of Taiwanese American immigrants, Yang was born and raised in New York state.
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Andrew Yang graduated from Brown University and Columbia Law School, and found success as a lawyer and entrepreneur before gaining mainstream attention as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
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Andrew Yang suspended his campaign on February 11,2020, shortly after the New Hampshire primary.
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On October 4,2021, Andrew Yang announced his departure from the Democratic Party to become an independent politician, faulting what he characterized as a system stuck in increasing polarization and saying that he is "more comfortable trying to fix the system than being a part of it".
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Later in October 2021, Andrew Yang founded the Forward Party, a centrist political party with a stated goal of providing an alternative to the two major US political parties.
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Andrew Yang was born on January 13,1975, to a Taiwanese American family in Schenectady, New York.
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Andrew Yang's parents emigrated from Taiwan to the US in the 1960s and met in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Andrew Yang's father graduated with a PhD in physics and worked in the research labs of IBM and General Electric, generating over 50 patents in his career.
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Andrew Yang's mother graduated with a master's degree in statistics before becoming a systems administrator at a university, and later an artist.
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Andrew Yang has an older brother, Lawrence, who is a psychology professor at New York University.
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Andrew Yang grew up in Somers in Westchester County, New York.
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Andrew Yang attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire.
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Andrew Yang was part of the 1992 US national debate team, which competed at the world championships in London.
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Andrew Yang then attended Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of the Columbia Law Review.
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Andrew Yang later described the job as "a pie-eating contest, and if you won, your prize was more pie".
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Andrew Yang left the law firm after five months, which he has called "the five worst months of my life".
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In February 2000, Andrew Yang joined his office mate, Jonathan Philips, in launching Stargiving, a website for celebrity-affiliated philanthropic fundraising.
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Andrew Yang became involved in other ventures, including a party-organizing business.
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In 2006, Vanderhoek asked Andrew Yang to take over as CEO.
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Andrew Yang later said it was during his time at Manhattan Prep that he became a millionaire.
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In September 2019 testimony before the New York City Commission on Gender Equity, former employee Kimberly Watkins testified that Andrew Yang had fired her because he felt that she would not work as hard after getting married.
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In 2011, Andrew Yang was recognized by "Champions of Change", a White House program that honored 500 people from every state for extraordinary work in their communities.
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In 2015, Andrew Yang was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
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Andrew Yang stepped down from his position as CEO of VFA in March 2017 but continued to advise startups aligned with his signature policy of universal basic income during his presidential campaign.
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On March 5,2020, following the suspension of his presidential campaign, Andrew Yang announced that he was creating the nonprofit organization Humanity Forward Foundation, dedicated to promoting the ideas he campaigned on during his run, such as UBI, ranked voting, and data privacy.
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Andrew Yang announced that the organization, together with The Spark of Hudson, forming HudsonUP, would give away $500,000 in UBI to the residents of Hudson, New York, to demonstrate UBI's benefits.
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Andrew Yang tweeted that the number of households was expected to double with additional funding.
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On February 17,2022, Andrew Yang announced the launch of a Web3 community whose membership token fees would be used to fund lobbying work on behalf of Web3, blockchain, and cryptocurrency interests on Capitol Hill.
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The announcement has been met with some criticism in part due to Andrew Yang's continued launches of organizations in addition to the skepticism around cryptocurrency ventures.
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In 2011, Andrew Yang was named a "Champion of Change" by the Obama administration.
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On November 6,2017, Andrew Yang filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for President of the United States in 2020.
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Andrew Yang later appeared on other podcasts and shows, including The Breakfast Club, The Ben Shapiro Show, and Real Time with Bill Maher where he continued advocating for criminal justice reform, cryptocurrency regulation clarity, and nuclear energy investment, ideas that aligned with the broader goals of individual freedom and market innovation.
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Andrew Yang's campaign was known for its heavy reliance on Internet-based campaigning.
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Andrew Yang received several high-profile endorsements, such as from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
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Andrew Yang was at least the third American of East Asian descent to run for President of the United States, after Hiram Fong and Patsy Mink.
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Andrew Yang dropped out of the presidential race on February 11,2020.
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Andrew Yang dropped out of the presidential race on February 11,2020, after a disappointing result in the New Hampshire primary.
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Andrew Yang said he understood Sanders' supporters' frustration, but that beating Trump was the most important objective.
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In November 2020, Andrew Yang announced that he and his wife were moving to Atlanta to assist Raphael Warnock's and Jon Ossoff's campaigns in the January 2021 Georgia Senate runoff elections.
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Andrew Yang suggested that he serve in a new role, Secretary of Technology and Innovation.
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Andrew Yang filed paperwork to raise money for his mayoral campaign on December 23,2020.
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On January 8,2021, Politico reported that Andrew Yang left New York City during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to stay at his second home in New Paltz, New York.
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Andrew Yang formally announced his bid for mayor on January 13,2021, on Twitter.
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Andrew Yang himself had not voted in a municipal election since 2001.
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Andrew Yang was endorsed by US Representatives Grace Meng and Ritchie Torres, as well as a number of other New York state and city political figures.
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Andrew Yang emerged as a front-runner after entering the race, and maintained a steady lead in polls; starting in May 2021, Yang's lead shrank as Eric Adams emerged as another front-runner.
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Shortly after New York city mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges, Andrew Yang wrote an op-ed for Newsweek stating that back when he ran against Adams in the 2021 mayoral primary he expected the charges were coming.
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On October 4,2021, Andrew Yang announced on his blog that he had changed his voter registration from Democrat to Independent, saying he was "confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing"; the next day he announced the formation of the Forward Party.
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Andrew Yang said the group would start as a social movement and political action committee, and eventually petition the FEC for formal recognition as a political party.
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In June 2023, Andrew Yang announced he had donated to Chris Christie's 2024 presidential campaign, in an effort to help qualify him for the upcoming Republican primary debates.
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Later in December, Andrew Yang endorsed Representative Andy Kim for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 New Jersey Senate election.
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In January 2024, Andrew Yang endorsed Dean Phillips' 2024 presidential campaign, though Phillips dropped out after Super Tuesday.
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Andrew Yang later predicted that Biden would lose the election, with House and Senate Democrats heading for "historic" losses as well.
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On July 23,2024, following Biden's withdrawal from the race, Andrew Yang endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a statement on social media.
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Andrew Yang later wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek after the Democratic Convention, in which he encouraged fellow independents to vote for Harris.
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Andrew Yang has been married to Evelyn Andrew Yang since 2011; the couple have two sons.
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In 2019, Andrew Yang reported on his tax return that he rented out this home for 58 days to friends or on Airbnb.
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In 2020, Andrew Yang received the 2021 Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Public Service, awarded by the Vilcek Foundation.
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On February 26,2021, Andrew Yang stopped a physical attack on a journalist on the Staten Island Ferry by placing himself between the attacker and the journalist.