Andrew M. Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist and Democratic candidate for New York City mayor. Orig...
Andrew M. Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist and Democratic candidate for New York City mayor. Originally a lawyer, Yang began working in startups and early stage growth companies as a founder or executive from 2000 to 2009. In 2011, he founded Venture for America (VFA), a nonprofit organization focused on creating jobs in cities struggling to recover from the Great Recession. He ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, and is running in the 2021 New York City mayoral election.
The son of immigrants from Taiwan, Yang was born and raised in New York. He attended Brown University and then Columbia Law School. Dissatisfied with his work as an attorney, Yang began working for startups during the dot-com bubble before spending a decade as an executive at test preparation company Manhattan Prep. In 2011, Yang founded VFA, which recruits top college graduates into a two-year fellowship program at startups in developing cities across the United States. The Obama administration selected him in 2011 as a "Champion of Change" and in 2015 as a "Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship." Yang left VFA in 2017 to focus on his presidential campaign. In 2018, he authored The War on Normal People, which outlines several of his campaign's central ideas.
On November 6, 2017, Yang filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for President of the United States in the 2020 election. Yang's campaign largely focused on responding to the rapid development of automation, which is increasingly leading to workforce challenges and economic instability in the United States. His signature policy was the "Freedom Dividend," a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month to every American adult as a response to job displacement by automation, one of the primary factors that he claims led to Donald Trump's election in 2016. Considered a dark horse candidate throughout much of the primary, Yang received significant popularity online, with The New York Times calling him "The Internet's Favorite Candidate". News outlets described Yang as the most surprising candidate of 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, and has been credited with elevating discussions on UBI, automation, and autism to the national level, as well as for engaging Asian Americans in presidential politics.Yang's campaign was noted for its happy-go-lucky and "tech-friendly" nature. His supporters, informally known as the "Yang Gang", included several high-profile celebrity endorsements and were noted for their ideological and political diversity. Yang suspended his campaign on February 11, 2020, shortly after the New Hampshire primary, pledging that he and his movement are "just getting started." Following his campaign's end, Yang joined CNN as a political commentator, announced the creation of the political nonprofit organization Humanity Forward, and is running for the Democratic nomination in the 2021 New York City mayoral election.
VS
Jeff Flake
Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 2013 to 2019. A member of...
Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 2013 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Flake served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013.
Born in Snowflake, Arizona, Flake attended Brigham Young University, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations, and later his Master of Arts degree in political science. In the early 1980s, he became a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa, where he learned to speak Afrikaans. After returning to the United States, Flake served as Executive Director of the Goldwater Institute, before being elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district in 2001. He served as the representative for the 1st district until renumbering following the 2000 census redefined the district to be Arizona's 6th congressional district, which he then represented until he entered the Senate in 2013.
Flake sought the Republican nomination for the 2012 Senate election after incumbent Jon Kyl announced his retirement. He defeated Democratic candidate and former United States Surgeon General Richard Carmona in the general election. Flake was one of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" U.S. senators that pushed an immigration reform bill through the Senate in 2013. He is known as a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, but generally voted in line with Trump's positions. On October 24, 2017, Flake announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018.Throughout his Senate career, Flake suffered from consistently low approval ratings. In April 2013, less than three months after taking office, he had 32% approval and 51% disapproval ratings. By mid-2017, he dropped to 18% approval and 62% disapproval ratings, but recovered slightly near the end of his term, with 30% approval and 51% disapproval ratings as of July 2018.On January 29, 2019, Flake was hired by CBS as a contributor for CBS News. He regularly appears on CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!