NC Forward seeks party approval, stays local 

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – The winter of our discontent is no longer limited to just one of four seasons.

“So, what’s the most common political party in the state of North Carolina? It’s none of the above. It’s unaffiliated. I think people are trying to tell us that they’re sick of the current system. The problem is we’re all kind of constrained by the current system,” said Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper.

North Carolina currently has five recognized political parties. Another seven are trying to get the 13,865 verified signatures needed by June 1 to accomplish the same thing. That includes North Carolina Forward, a national organization founded by former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman and businessman Andrew Yang.

NC Forward chairman Pat Newton agrees with the majority of the country who, when polled, aren’t happy with the current options.

“Things like character are really are important. Certainly, policy positions are what impact the voters’ opinions. But we’re finding more and more people are really just disappointed in the way our elected officials are conducting themselves and frankly that we deserve better. We use an analogy of a football field. We look at the political landscape. Most people plant their ideological flag somewhere in the middle of the field, maybe they’re on the 40-yard line towards the left on this issue or the 35-yard line towards the right on that issue. But the reality is the two parties are camped out in the end. And they’re trying to drag all of us to those extremes, even though there’s more registered independents or unaffiliated voters in North Carolina than there are Republicans or Democrats. The reality is those people don’t have a home. They’re forced on Election Day to really choose, do I want to go to the extreme left or to the extreme right? When in the reality that’s not where people want to be, they want to see common sense, common ground solutions that work for everybody.”

Parties like No Labels, which is recognized in NC, and RFK Jr’s We The People Party, which is trying to be recognized, are focused on the White House. But Newton said the Forward Party is not doing that. They’re starting in your backyard.

“I would say we’re probably in it for more of the long haul type of approach. We’re really focused on a lot of local elections. So whether it be Mayor, City Council, Board of Education, we feel those community leaders are how we’re going to be able to best build the party to be sustainable well beyond 2024,” Newton said.

Professor Cooper agrees that it is a more sustainable approach.

“You start with the offices where you don’t need ten, twenty, thirty million dollars to run a campaign. You start local. Perhaps you run folks for General Assembly, you build it over time. The flash in the pan parties come and go. It’s the rare third party that can stay,” said Cooper.