Yang tells supporters he can make it through ‘dogfight’
SAN FRANCISCO >> After being excluded from this week’s Democratic debate, Andrew Yang is hoping to avoid the fate of nearly every other 2020 presidential candidate who’s missed a debate: irrelevance.
Despite his absence at the high-profile Iowa forum, Yang told a crowd of several hundred enthusiastic supporters at a fundraiser in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood Thursday night that he was confident he’d make it through the “dogfight” of the early states to compete in California’s Super Tuesday primary.
“This campaign has been growing while other campaigns have been dropping out,” he declared to cheers. “For the first time in generations, California will get to choose the next president of the United States.”
Yang, an entrepreneur from New York who’s never run for public office, has outlasted governors, senators and longtime Democratic leaders in the presidential race, becoming one of the biggest surprises of the 2020 campaign. He’s built a passionate following with his call for a universal basic income plan that would give every American adult $1,000 each month.
But he got shut out of Tuesday’s debate after failing to get 5% in four national or early state polls. Previous White House hopefuls who failed to qualify for debates, such as Sen. Cory Booker and former housing Secretary Julián Castro, saw their fundraising dry up and soon quit the race.
“It’s extremely difficult because as Iowa gets closer, there’s going to be more and more attention to the leading candidates, and less attention to the long shots,” said Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College. “It’s really hard for Yang to bounce back.”
In previous debates, Yang had stolen the spotlight with strong explanations of his proposals, witty one-liners and gimmicks like announcing a $1,000-a-month giveaway to 10 randomly selected families. Some of Yang’s supporters said Thursday they were scared he would lose momentum without that kind of exposure.
“I’m very worried about it,” said Bryan Nieves, of Napa, who got Yang to sign three copies of his book and said he was the “only politician I’ve ever heard that really speaks to me.”
Yang projected confidence, saying he was the
“fourth most-tweetedabout candidate” during the debate even without a place on the stage.
His big hope is an unexpectedly strong showing in Iowa or New Hampshire, which could earn him a second look from voters around the country.
Already, his campaign is spending millions in advertising in those two early states.
“You can’t turn on the TV in Iowa without seeing this guy,” Yang said, pointing to himself.
He said he’d raised his name recognition in the
Hawkeye State to “98%” through “the most American of ways: We spent a lot of money.”
Yang’s San Francisco fundraiser will help him stay on the airwaves. Tickets for the event ranged from $250 to $5,600, according to an invitation.
Yang, who said returning to the Bay Area “feels like a homecoming,” has painted himself as the candidate who best understands the tech industry. He’s argued that breaking up big tech companies is a “20th-century solution to a 21st-century problem,” and rolled out policies on issues such as allowing individuals to own their own data and creating a cabinet-level “Department of Technology” based in Silicon Valley.
“I do not have confidence that any of my opponents get the internet,” he declared in a New York Times editorial board interview published this week.
That’s a message that appeals to fans such as Danny Yu, a tech entrepreneur from Belmont and a former political independent who registered as a Democrat to vote for Yang.
“In the spirit of a startup, he’s an upstart who’s turned into a movement,” said Yu, 50, who’d never been involved in politics before Yang’s campaign.
Also this week, Yang picked up an endorsement from Silicon Valley State Assemblyman Evan Low, a rising star in California politics, who introduced him at Thursday’s event and will be the national co-chair of his campaign.
Low praised Yang’s proposals on the future of work and artificial intelligence.
As a kid, “I didn’t really have any Asian American role models,” Low said. “Seeing Andrew on the national stage gives me a great sense of deep pride.”
The 36-year-old Low — who had previously endorsed California Sen. Kamala Harris before she dropped out of the White House race in December — is the latest Silicon Valley pol to take a leadership role in a presidential campaign. Rep. Ro Khanna, DSanta Clara, is a national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign, while San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is a California co-chair of Bloomberg’s campaign.