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Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang November 2023.jpg
Yang in November 2023
Co-Chair of the Forward Party
Assumed office
July 28, 2022
Preceded by Position established
Personal details
Born (1975-01-13) January 13, 1975 (age 49)
Schenectady, New York, U.S.
Political party Forward (since 2021)
Other political
affiliations		 Democratic (1995–2021)
Spouse
Evelyn Lu
​
(m. 2011)​
Children 2
Education Brown University (BA)
Columbia University (JD)
Occupation
  • Entrepreneur
  • politician
  • political commentator
  • author
Signature
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 楊安澤
Simplified Chinese 杨安泽

Andrew Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Yang was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He is the co-chair of the Forward Party, alongside former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

Early life and education

Andrew Yang was born on January 13, 1975, in Schenectady, New York. His parents emigrated from Taiwan to the U.S. in the 1960s. Yang is of Hoklo Taiwanese descent.

His 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. His mother graduated with a master's degree in statistics before becoming a systems administrator at a university, and later an artist. Yang has an older brother, Lawrence, who is a psychology professor at New York University.

Yang grew up in Somers in Westchester County, New York. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire. After graduating from Exeter in 1992, he enrolled at Brown University, where he majored in economics and political science, graduating in 1996. He then attended Columbia Law School, earning a Juris Doctor in 1999.

Business career

After graduating from law school, Yang began his career as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. In February 2000, Yang joined his office mate, Jonathan Philips, in launching Stargiving, a website for philanthropic fundraising. The startup folded in 2002. Yang became involved in other ventures. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the vice president of a healthcare startup.

In late 2009, Yang began to work on creating a new nonprofit fellowship program, Venture for America (VFA), which he founded in 2011. The organization was intended to find and train entrepreneurs to start businesses in economically stressed cities. VFA was launched with $200,000 and trained 40 graduates in 2012 and 69 in 2013. VFA added Columbus, Miami, San Antonio, and St. Louis in 2014, with a class of 106.

Andrew Yang talking about urban entrepreneurship at Techonomy Conference 2015 in Detroit, MI
Yang speaks about urban entrepreneurship at the 2015 Techonomy Conference in Detroit, Michigan.

VFA quickly received national attention, including from the Obama administration.

On March 5, 2020, Yang announced that he was creating the nonprofit organization Humanity Forward Foundation, dedicated to promoting the ideas such as UBI, ranked voting, and data privacy. Yang also 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. After the Trump administration said it was considering a form of basic income in response to the pandemic, Yang announced that he had been in touch with the White House and had offered his team's services.

On March 20, CNN reported that Humanity Forward would soon spend $1 million on $1,000 monthly payments to 500 low-income households in the Bronx during the crisis. Yang tweeted that the number of households was expected to double with additional funding. On August 3, Yang announced that his organization was partnering with The $1K Project, an online network that helps identify families in need, who will be awarded three months of $1,000 payments. One of the network's founders describes the program as "a bridge to reemployment or other kinds of support."

Political career

Yang Yang became a prominent candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. His signature policy was a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month as a response to job displacement by automation. Yang has been credited with popularizing the idea of universal basic income through his candidacy and activism.

News outlets described Yang as a dark horse candidate in the 2020 election cycle, going from a relative unknown to a major competitor in the race. Yang qualified for and participated in seven of the first eight Democratic debates. His supporters, informally known as the "Yang Gang", included several high-profile celebrities. Yang suspended his campaign on February 11, 2020, shortly after the New Hampshire primary. After his campaign ended, Yang joined CNN as a political commentator, announced the creation of the political nonprofit organization Humanity Forward, and ran in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. Yang conceded the race shortly after the initial ranked choice votes were released, which placed him fourth.

On October 4, 2021, Andrew Yang announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent and saying that he is "more comfortable trying to fix the system than being a part of it". Later in October 2021, Yang founded the Forward Party – a centrist political action committee and political party.

Personal life

Evelyn Yang (49453150641)
Yang's wife, Evelyn Yang, speaking at an event during his presidential campaign

Yang has been married to Evelyn Yang (née Lu) since 2011; the couple have two sons.

The Yang family lives in a rental apartment in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, and also owns a home in New Paltz, New York.

Awards and recognition

  • In 2015, he was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
  • In 2011, Yang was recognized by "Champions of Change", a White House program that honored 500 people from every state for extraordinary work in their communities.
  • In 2020, Yang received the 2021 Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Public Service, awarded by the Vilcek Foundation.

Andrew Yang quotes

  • "Overnight successes are generally years in the making. And most progress is made in isolation, far from the public eye."
  • "Mistakes are acceptable if they’re the result of moving forward."
  • "I’ve always believed that talking about something is not the same as doing something about it."
  • "People can grow from adversity as much as they do from prosperity."

Images for kids

  • Andrew-Yang-Champion-of-Change

    Yang meeting with President Obama at the White House in 2012

  • Andrew Yang (45793567155)

    Yang makes a speech in New Hampshire in January 2019. His book, The War on Normal People, is displayed.

  • Andrew Yang (48571517517)

    Yang speaks with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Democratic Wing Ding at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.

  • Liberty & Justice Walkabout (49006493226)

    Yang's supporters form a crowd at the Liberty and Justice Celebration in Des Moines, Iowa. Yang is visible in the background.

  • Andrew Yang for Mayor logo

    Logo for Yang's 2021 mayoral campaign

  • Andrew Yang at WUPP

    Yang speaking for Wharton Undergraduates in Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania in April 2023

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Andrew Yang para niños

  • Basic income in the United States
  • List of advocates of basic income
  • Taiwanese Americans
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