New Mexico Forward Party submits signatures to become official
SANTA FE - Leaders of an independent, centrist party founded by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang on Friday submitted thousands of signatures to the New Mexico Secretary of State, marking their next step toward getting on the ballot.
The Secretary of State has until May 15 to approve or deny the Forward Party's submission. If certified, Forward Party candidates will be able to appear on the November ballot in the state.
"We met all the requirements to be a party that they have," New Mexico Forward Party chair Bob Perls said Friday. "And it means that we will, in fact, be running candidates in November."
Perls said the group submitted 5,700 signatures and 3,400 are required to be certified.
A spokesperson for the Secretary of State, Sharon Pino, confirmed the Forward Party of New Mexico filed its petitions and rules this morning and said the office is "currently reviewing their submission for compliance with statutory requirements and numbers."
The Forward Party, which Yang co-founded in 2021, is focused less on policies than values, particularly upholding the rule of law, strengthening democracy and working across the aisle with civility.
The party motto is “not left, not right, but forward."
At a launch event last month, party leaders said they are looking to challenge state legislators who voted against a bill to open primaries to unaffiliated voters.
Perls said the party has six candidates they plan to field in the general election, but declined to share any details at this point, saying they would be made public in the next few weeks.
"We will continue to recruit candidates," he said, with candidates' declarations due June 25.
Perls said the signature submission marked "the culmination of 18 months of work."
"We were told that we have everything in order, so we fully anticipate approval by next Friday, with at least six candidates. ... We hope to win a few seats in the state House and maybe even a statewide office," Perls said.
