Andrew Yang

Early life and education

Andrew Yang was born on January 13, 1975, to a Taiwanese American family in Schenectady, New York. His parents emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the 1960s and met in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. 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, a town in Westchester County, New York. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a private boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Yang was part of the 1992 U.S. national debate team, which competed at the world championships in London. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1992.

Yang received a Bachelor of Arts degree (with a major in economics and political science) from Brown University in 1996 and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia University in 1999. He was an editor of the Columbia Law Review when he was a law student.

Business career

Early career

After graduating from law school, Yang began his career as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. Yang later described the job as "a pie-eating contest, and if you won, your prize was more pie". He left the law firm after five months, which he has called "the five worst months of my life".

In February 2000, Yang joined his office mate, Jonathan Philips, in launching Stargiving, a website for celebrity-affiliated philanthropic fundraising. The startup had some initial success, but folded in 2002 as the dot-com bubble burst. Yang became involved in other ventures, including a party-organizing business. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the vice president of a healthcare startup.

Manhattan Prep

After working in the healthcare industry for four years, Yang left MMF Systems to join his friend Zeke Vanderhoek at a small test preparation company, Manhattan Prep. In 2006, Vanderhoek asked Yang to take over as CEO. While Yang was CEO, the company primarily provided GMAT test preparation. It expanded from five to 69 locations and was acquired by Kaplan, Inc. in December 2009. Yang resigned as the company's president in early 2012. Yang later said it was during his time at Manhattan Prep that he became a millionaire.

In September 2019 testimony before the New York City Commission on Gender Equity, former employee Kimberly Watkins testified that Yang had fired her because he felt that she would not work as hard after getting married. Yang has denied the allegations. In an appearance on The View, Yang said, "I've had so many phenomenal women leaders that have elevated me and my organizations at every phase of my career, and if I was that kind of person I would never have had any success."

In November, a former employee of Yang's at Manhattan GMAT filed a lawsuit against him for allegedly paying her less than her male co-workers and subsequently firing her for asking for a raise. Yang and another female employee at the company disputed the anonymous woman's claim that she was in an equivalent position to the male co-workers she cited.

Venture for America

Following Kaplan's acquisition of Manhattan Prep 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.

VFA quickly received national attention, including from the Obama administration. 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 2015, Yang was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

VFA has also been criticized for falling far short of its 100,000 job goal. An ABC News investigation found that VFA's own tally counted only 365 jobs created as of 2020 and of those The New York Times has found only 150 remain. Startup, a documentary film co-directed by Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser about six startups in Detroit launched through VFA, was released in 2016. 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.

Legendary Ventures

On August 10, 2022, Andrew Yang joined the advisory team at Legendary Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, to drive strategic value across the firm's portfolio of consumer retail technology investments, alongside Fung Brothers Ventures.

Humanity Forward

On March 5, 2020, following the suspension of his presidential campaign, 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. 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."

Humanity Forward stated that it was not supporting or endorsing any candidate after Yang announced his run for mayor of New York City.

Lobby 3

On February 17, 2022, 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. The announcement has been met with some criticism in part due to Yang's continued launches of organizations in addition to the skepticism around cryptocurrency ventures.

Noble Mobile

In 2025, Yang launched Noble Mobile, a new wireless carrier that leases network access from T-Mobile and resells wireless service using a unique pricing and rewards model.

Net worth

Media outlets provided several estimates of Yang's net worth as of mid-2019: $1 million according to Forbes, between $834,000 and $2.4 million according to The Wall Street Journal, and between $3 million and $4 million according to Newsweek. In 2020 OpenSecrets estimated it being as low as $584,047.

Political career

Work with the Obama administration

In 2012, Yang was named a "Champion of Change" by the Obama administration. In 2015, he was selected as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

2020 presidential campaign

On November 6, 2017, Yang filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for President of the United States in 2020. The campaign began with a small initial staff working out of an apartment owned by Yang's mother. He ran on multiple slogans, including "Humanity First", "Make America Think Harder (MATH)", and "Not Left, Not Right, Forward." Initially considered a longshot, Yang's campaign gained significant momentum in February 2019 following an appearance on the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. On the podcast, Yang emphasized several libertarian-leaning policies that contributed to his growing popularity, such as his support for decriminalizing drugs, data privacy rights, and ending corporate welfare. He 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. By March 2019, Yang had met the polling and fundraising thresholds to qualify for the first round of Democratic primary debates. In August 2019, he met the higher thresholds to qualify for the second round of Democratic debates. Later, he qualified for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Democratic debates but was unable to meet a polling threshold for the January 2020 debate. He did qualify for the February 2020 debate.

Yang's campaign focused largely on policy, in what Reuters described as a "technocratic approach." Yang regularly called Donald Trump a symptom of a wider problem in the economy, rather than the problem itself. According to The New York Times, Yang was known for doing interviews with conservative news outlets, and "although [Yang] tweets often, he almost never tweets about Mr. Trump." This approach was exemplified by one of Yang's campaign slogans: "Not Left, Not Right, Forward."

Yang's campaign was known for its heavy reliance on Internet-based campaigning. The campaign was also known for its popularity online, with The New York Times calling Yang "The Internet's Favorite Candidate." His campaign supporters, known informally as the Yang Gang, brought attention to his campaign on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms, through memes and viral campaigning. Several news outlets called Yang the most surprising candidate of the election cycle, going from relative obscurity to a national contender who outlasted several well-known politicians.

2021 New York City mayoral campaign

After the suspension of his presidential campaign in February 2020, Yang was considered a potential candidate in the 2021 New York City mayoral election to succeed the outgoing Bill de Blasio, with Yang himself expressing interest in seeking the office. Yang had reportedly told city leaders that he intended to run for mayor after polling obtained by the New York Post showed him leading the field, with 20% of New Yorkers saying they would support his candidacy. Yang filed paperwork to raise money for his mayoral campaign on December 23, 2020.

On January 8, 2021, Politico reported that Yang left New York City during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to stay at his second home in New Paltz, New York. In an interview with The New York Times, he said, "Can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment and then trying to do work yourself?" Critics saw his comments as tone-deaf, as many Americans had to balance work and family during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Yang formally announced his bid for mayor on January 13, 2021, on Twitter. He himself had not voted in a municipal election since 2001. Yang was endorsed by U.S. Representatives Grace Meng and Ritchie Torres, as well as a number of other New York state and city political figures. He 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. After placing fourth in first-place votes on election night, June 22, Yang conceded that he could not win the race and ended his campaign. Shortly after New York city mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges, 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.

Founding of the Forward Party

In Yang's 2021 book Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, he announced his intention to found a new third party, the Forward Party. On October 4, 2021, 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.

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. On July 27, 2022, the Forward Party announced a merger with the Serve America Movement and the Renew America Movement to form a new political party. The party is officially registered as a minor party in Nevada and legal party status in Maine and Texas.

2024 election cycle

In June 2023, 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. Later in December, Yang endorsed Representative Andy Kim for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 New Jersey Senate election. In January 2024, Yang endorsed Dean Phillips' 2024 presidential campaign. On January 18, US Representative Dean Phillips held campaign events with Yang in Manchester and Hanover, New Hampshire. Yang assisted Phillips' cause to gain ballot access for the Florida Democratic Party presidential primary after its cancellation and he told ABC News, "What's happening in Florida is important -- do we live in a democracy or not? If the Democrats can simply cancel their own primaries they should change their name to something else." In February 2024, it was reported that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had asked Yang to be his running mate, but that Yang had been "noncommittal" about it. Kennedy reportedly still had Yang on his running mate short list during parts of March 2024, but attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan was ultimately chosen as Kennedy's running mate on March 26 of the same year.

After the first presidential debate on June 27, Yang encouraged the Democratic Party to nominate someone instead of Biden "before it's too late". Throughout the summer he encouraged Biden to drop out and for the Democratic Party to nominate someone different to defeat Trump in the general election. Yang later predicted that Biden would lose the election, with House and Senate Democrats heading for "historic" losses as well. On July 23, 2024, following Biden's withdrawal from the race, Yang endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a statement on social media. He later wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek after the Democratic Convention, in which he encouraged fellow independents to vote for Harris.

After Trump's win in the U.S. presidential election, Politico reached out to "Democratic thinkers", including Yang, to see what they thought the Party needed to do to improve itself. Yang proposed that the Democrats should apologize for "sandbagging Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary", as well as for not having a competitive 2024 primary, name Dean Phillips the new chair of the DNC "as the only Democrat with the character to sacrifice his career for the good of the country." He also said they should "pledge never to back extremists in Republican primaries to boost a more beatable opponent in the general election," and that they should back the Local Journalism Sustainability Act to provide a path for local journalism, and the Fair Representation Act to fight gerrymandering, as well as "abandon policing cultural behaviors" to instead focus on improving Americans' standard of living; "In many ways, these all boil down to one thing: The Democratic Party should act more democratically."

Personal life

Yang has been married to Evelyn Yang (née Lu, Chinese: 盧艾玲) since 2011; the couple have two sons. He has spoken about his older son Christopher, who is autistic, saying: "I'm very proud of my son and anyone who has someone on the spectrum in their family feels the exact same way."

The Yang family lives in a rental apartment in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, and also owns a home in New Paltz, New York, that they purchased in 2015. This became the family's primary residence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a focus of controversy during Yang's mayoral campaign. In 2019, Yang reported on his tax return that he rented out this home for 58 days to friends or on Airbnb.

Yang and his family attend the Reformed Church of New Paltz, which is near his home, and has identified Mark E. Mast as their pastor. He considers himself spiritual. Speaking about his faith at an interfaith town hall at Wartburg College, Yang said he "wouldn't be the first to say that [his] own journey is still in progress."

In 2020, Yang received the 2021 Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Public Service, awarded by the Vilcek Foundation.

On February 26, 2021, Yang stopped a physical assault on a photojournalist on the Staten Island Ferry by placing himself between the attacker and the journalist. The attacker recognized Yang, which deescalated the situation.

Works

Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America. HarperCollins. February 4, 2014. ISBN 978-0062292049.

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future. Hachette Books. April 3, 2018. ISBN 978-0316414241.

Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy. Penguin Random House. October 5, 2021. ISBN 978-0-593-23865-3.

The Last Election (a novel co-authored with Stephen Marche). Akashic Books. September 12, 2023. ISBN 978-1636141503.

Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks? And Other True Stories of Staggering Depth. Akashic Books. February 3, 2026. ISBN 9781636142791.