The Forward Party was formed through the merger of three legacy organizations, each of which had a different mission and strategy for achieving that mission. After the merger, the Party searched for a CEO to give us a unified strategic direction. I was appointed in February of 2023 to usher in the next phase of the Forward Party’s plan to reform our democracy for the better.
Through its first phase post-merger, the Forward Party engaged in an intense market research effort to discover where the desire for our brand of politics is highest. We’ve invested in leaders in all 50 states around the country, while talking with experts in the independent and new party movements and other groups that are attempting to reform our democracy. We have completed this initial exploration phase.
Now, we’re moving into the next phase: demonstrating viability by investing where we can have the most impact. By analyzing the political landscape in all 50 states, working to identify key leaders, and investing in legal and voter research, we’ve identified our top 12 battleground states:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Illinois
Maryland
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Texas
These states all fulfill criteria that lead us to believe we have the best opportunity at driving towards success—candidates running for office, and winning. They have strong leadership; viability for ballot access; work being done to identify candidates and potential party switchers; national relevance; and other reform efforts aligning with ours.
These states are also starting to put points on the scoreboard. For instance, seethiscoveragefrom Florida, where Mayor Jordan Marlowe of Newberry announced he’s switching to the Forward Party.
Mayor Marlowe is our first sitting elected official, and a huge sign of our momentum and viability. He had the following to say:
“For the last 12 years, it has been my honor to serve my residents of the city of Newberry. In that time it’s always been my goal to work to bring people together to solve the real-world problems our residents face. I’ve never really felt at home in either of the two main political parties. Today it is my pleasure to officially announce that I am ready to move ‘Forward.’ I’m ready to move Newberry forward, move our county forward, and move this country forward. Together we can solve problems. Together we can get things done. Let’s move forward together.”
While he’s the first Forward elected official, he joins four Forward Democrats in Arizona. They declared their affiliation with our Party while still maintaining their identity as Democrats. At the Forward Party, we’re interested in working with anyone who wants to build towards solutions-oriented good governance! Read about their affiliation and our overall strategy at the following link:
Now that we’ve identified our key battleground states, we’re going to invest in our leadership teams, helping them build out their infrastructure so that they can achieve party recognition and run state and local candidates. We’re going to show Americans throughout the country what happens when politicians who are accountable to them and focused on solving problems are on the ballot and in office.
