# Andrew Yang (杨安泽)
**Andrew Yang** (杨安泽) is an American entrepreneur, author, and politician who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on a platform centered on universal basic income, which he called the "Freedom Dividend" of $1,000 per month for every American adult. Born in 1975 in [Schenectady, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/schenectady-new-york), to parents who immigrated from Taiwan, he was a political outsider with no prior elected office who nonetheless qualified for the Democratic debates, built a grassroots following known as the "Yang Gang," and outlasted several senators and governors in the primary before suspending his campaign on February 11, 2020, the night of the [New Hampshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-hampshire) primary.[1](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/person/andrew-yang/) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-yang-drops-out-of-presidential-race/2020/02/11/4fe2c97c-4c2c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html) • [3](https://time.com/5860064/andrew-yang-time100-talks/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975, Schenectady, New York, to parents who immigrated from Taiwan[1](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/person/andrew-yang/) |
| Education | Phillips Exeter Academy (1992); Brown University, dual bachelor's in economics and political science (1996); Columbia Law School (1999)[4](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Andrew-Yang-%E6%A5%8A%E5%AE%89%E6%BE%A4-Profile.pdf) • [5](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/) |
| Venture for America | Founded 2011; trained 40 Fellows in its first year, with more than 500 Fellows and alumni by 2017[6](https://2020.yang2020.com/meet-andrew/) |
| Signature policy | "Freedom Dividend," a universal basic income of $1,000 per month for every American adult[1](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/person/andrew-yang/) |
| 2020 campaign | Filed to run on November 6, 2017; raised $42.6 million in total receipts per the FEC; suspended February 11, 2020[7](https://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/) • [8](https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/P00006486/) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-yang-drops-out-of-presidential-race/2020/02/11/4fe2c97c-4c2c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html) |
| Later politics | Ran for New York City mayor in 2021; left the Democratic Party in October 2021; co-founded the Forward Party in 2022[9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang) • [10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%9D%A8%E5%AE%89%E6%B3%BD/22389645?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/03/whitman-yang-forward-republicans-democrats/) |
| Books | *Smart People Should Build Things* (2014) and *The War on Normal People* (2018)[9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang) |
## Early life and education
Yang was born in 1975 in Schenectady, New York, and raised in nearby Westchester County. His parents immigrated from Taiwan as graduate students at the [University of California](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california), Berkeley, where his father received a Ph.D. in physics and his mother a master's in statistics.[9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang) He and his older brother were among the few Asian American students at their local public school, and Yang later recalled being picked on as a child.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/who-is-that-guy-andrew-yangs-presidential-campaign-draws-crowds-money-and-an-expected-spot-on-the-democratic-debate-stage/2019/05/09/c1bf788c-6c5e-11e9-8f44-e8d8bb1df986_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1)
He graduated from [Phillips Exeter Academy](https://www.edgepedia.org/phillips-exeter-academy) in New Hampshire in 1992, studied political science and economics at [Brown University](https://www.edgepedia.org/brown-university), and received his law degree from Columbia University in 1999.[5](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/) • [4](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Andrew-Yang-%E6%A5%8A%E5%AE%89%E6%BE%A4-Profile.pdf)
## Business career
Yang spent five months as a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk and Wardwell in New York before leaving law for entrepreneurship.[5](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/) He launched an internet company called Stargiving, which raised money for charity by auctioning celebrity experiences, and worked at the mobile software company Crisp Wireless and the health-care start-up MMF Systems.[5](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/) He then ran the test-prep company Manhattan Prep, which was acquired by Kaplan in 2009 for an undisclosed amount; on the campaign trail he described the proceeds as a "modest fortune."[5](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/)
**Venture for America.** In 2011, Yang founded Venture for America, a nonprofit fellowship that trains recent college graduates and places them at start-ups in cities such as Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, with the aim of rejuvenating local economies hit hard by the financial crisis.[6](https://2020.yang2020.com/meet-andrew/) • [7](https://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/) In its first year the organization trained 40 Fellows; by 2017, more than 500 Fellows and alumni had launched dozens of companies.[6](https://2020.yang2020.com/meet-andrew/) President Barack Obama named Yang a Champion of Change in 2012 and a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship in 2015.[6](https://2020.yang2020.com/meet-andrew/)
## 2020 presidential campaign
Yang filed to run for president as a Democrat on November 6, 2017.[7](https://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/) His central argument was that automation and new technology would eliminate millions of working-class American jobs, and he estimated that as many as one in three American jobs was at risk.[13](https://projects.voanews.com/election-2020/english/candidates/yang.html) • [14](https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/presidential-profiles-2020/andrew-yang-2020-election-campaign-president/) His signature proposal, the Freedom Dividend, would give every American adult $1,000 per month, funded in part by a value-added tax on large corporations; he cited Alaska's oil dividend as a working precedent.[1](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/person/andrew-yang/) • [9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang) His campaign slogan, "Make America Think Harder," appeared on the MATH hats that became a campaign emblem.[9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang) • [15](https://escholarship.org/content/qt1w18t1t4/qt1w18t1t4_noSplash_138b0b8eeb086d0c27e691f0e01a2f1e.pdf)
Starting from near-total name recognition, Yang qualified for and participated in seven of the first eight Democratic debates, and his campaign raised $42.6 million in total receipts according to [Federal Election Commission](https://www.edgepedia.org/federal-election-commission) records, with individual contributions of about $41.2 million.[16](https://encyclopedia-of-opinion.org/proponents/andrew-yang) • [8](https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/P00006486/) His supporters, the "Yang Gang," were noted for their ideological diversity and drew coverage calling him "the Internet's favorite candidate."[16](https://encyclopedia-of-opinion.org/proponents/andrew-yang) By January 2020 his bid had outlasted those of several members of the House, a few governors, and multiple U.S. senators.[3](https://time.com/5860064/andrew-yang-time100-talks/)
He suspended the campaign on February 11, 2020, after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-yang-drops-out-of-presidential-race/2020/02/11/4fe2c97c-4c2c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html) Yang later said his goal had been to raise the alarm around automation and mainstream universal basic income rather than to win.[17](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/andrew-yang-universal-basic-income/685808/)
## Asian American identity and coverage
Yang was the first Taiwanese American to run for president of the United States, and he vied to become the first Asian American nominee of a major party.[18](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/18-Political-Activities-in-the-US-729.pdf) • [19](https://qa.time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/) He often joked on the trail that "the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math," and his campaign sold MATH hats that turned the stereotype into a slogan.[5](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/) • [15](https://escholarship.org/content/qt1w18t1t4/qt1w18t1t4_noSplash_138b0b8eeb086d0c27e691f0e01a2f1e.pdf) Commentators noted that some of his remarks about being "good at math" or hard-working because he was Asian drew criticism for perpetuating model-minority stereotypes.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-yang-drops-out-of-presidential-race/2020/02/11/4fe2c97c-4c2c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html) His candidacy has been credited with elevating discussion of universal basic income, automation, and Asian American engagement in presidential politics.[16](https://encyclopedia-of-opinion.org/proponents/andrew-yang)
## New York mayoral run and the Forward Party
After the presidential campaign, Yang founded the nonprofit Humanity Forward and considered a run for New York City mayor, announcing his candidacy on January 13, 2021.[20](https://www.axios.com/2020/04/15/andrew-yang-new-york-mayoral-run-2021) • [9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang) He led early polls but finished fourth in the first round of ranked-choice tallying on election night, ending that campaign.[10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%9D%A8%E5%AE%89%E6%B3%BD/22389645?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
In October 2021, Yang announced he had changed his voter registration from Democrat to independent, writing that he had been a Democrat his entire adult life but was leaving over disappointment with polarization.[10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%9D%A8%E5%AE%89%E6%B3%BD/22389645?fromModule=lemma_inlink) In July 2022 he joined former New Jersey governor [Christine Todd Whitman](https://www.edgepedia.org/christine-todd-whitman) and former congressman [David Jolly](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-jolly) in launching the Forward Party, which promotes electoral reforms including ranked-choice voting, independent redistricting commissions, and open primaries rather than a detailed ideological platform.[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/03/whitman-yang-forward-republicans-democrats/) • [21](https://time.com/7300894/andrew-yang-forward-party-elon-musk-america-party-third/) Political analysts have been skeptical of its prospects in a two-party system, and Yang himself said the party would start with a budget of about $5 million.[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/03/whitman-yang-forward-republicans-democrats/) • [22](https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/Documents/ThirdParty.Reuters.TimReid.27July022.pdf)
## Writings
Yang has written two books: *Smart People Should Build Things* (2014), about redirecting talented graduates toward entrepreneurship, and *The War on Normal People* (2018), which lays out the automation argument behind his universal basic income proposal.[9](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang)
## References
1. [Andrew Yang 楊安澤, History of Taiwanese American (T.A. Archives)](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/person/andrew-yang/)
2. [Andrew Yang drops out of presidential race, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-yang-drops-out-of-presidential-race/2020/02/11/4fe2c97c-4c2c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html)
3. [Andrew Yang Discusses a Potential Biden Administration Cabinet Role, TIME](https://time.com/5860064/andrew-yang-time100-talks/)
4. [Andrew Yang 楊安澤 Profile, T.A. Archives](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Andrew-Yang-%E6%A5%8A%E5%AE%89%E6%BE%A4-Profile.pdf)
5. [Inside Andrew Yang's Outsider Campaign, TIME](https://time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/)
6. [Meet Andrew, Yang 2020 campaign site](https://2020.yang2020.com/meet-andrew/)
7. [Meet the Major Candidates Running for President in 2020, TIME](https://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/)
8. [YANG, ANDREW MR., Candidate overview, Federal Election Commission](https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/P00006486/)
9. [Andrew Yang, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang)
10. [杨安泽, 快懂百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%9D%A8%E5%AE%89%E6%B3%BD/22389645?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
11. [Can the new Forward Party win any votes?, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/03/whitman-yang-forward-republicans-democrats/)
12. [Andrew Yang's presidential campaign draws crowds, money and an expected debate spot, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/who-is-that-guy-andrew-yangs-presidential-campaign-draws-crowds-money-and-an-expected-spot-on-the-democratic-debate-stage/2019/05/09/c1bf788c-6c5e-11e9-8f44-e8d8bb1df986_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1)
13. [Election 2020: Andrew Yang, VOA News](https://projects.voanews.com/election-2020/english/candidates/yang.html)
14. [Who is Andrew Yang?, Center for Public Integrity](https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/presidential-profiles-2020/andrew-yang-2020-election-campaign-president/)
15. [Andrew Yang and Post-'65 Asian America, eScholarship (University of California)](https://escholarship.org/content/qt1w18t1t4/qt1w18t1t4_noSplash_138b0b8eeb086d0c27e691f0e01a2f1e.pdf)
16. [Andrew Yang, Encyclopedia of Opinion](https://encyclopedia-of-opinion.org/proponents/andrew-yang)
17. [The Relentless Andrew Yang, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/andrew-yang-universal-basic-income/685808/)
18. [Political Activities in the US, T.A. Archives](https://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/18-Political-Activities-in-the-US-729.pdf)
19. [Inside Andrew Yang's Outsider Campaign, TIME (qa mirror)](https://qa.time.com/5596959/andrew-yang-2020-election/)
20. [Andrew Yang leaves door open for New York mayoral run, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2020/04/15/andrew-yang-new-york-mayoral-run-2021)
21. [Meet Andrew Yang, the Former Presidential Candidate Who Is Keen to Help Musk's America Party, TIME](https://time.com/7300894/andrew-yang-forward-party-elon-musk-america-party-third/)
22. [Musk's America Party has helpers and challenges, Reuters via Columbia](https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/Documents/ThirdParty.Reuters.TimReid.27July022.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Government and public administration › Heads of state, vice presidents, and governor-generals*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license