Andrew Yang suggested Tuesday he was surprised not to find himself among other former Democratic presidential candidates speaking at the party’s national convention next week.
Mr. Yang, whose long-shot campaign outlasted those of several politicians set to speak at the Democratic National Convention, took to Twitter in light of being left off its lineup.
“I’ve got to be honest,” Mr. Yang tweeted, “I kind of expected to speak.”
“Maybe I endorsed against one too many incumbents,” Mr. Yang speculated in another tweet later.
The Democratic National Committee announced details earlier Tuesday for next week’s convention, which will be largely digital because of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.
Yet while a number of former Democratic presidential hopefuls are slated to speak ahead of presumptive nominee Joseph R. Biden accepting the nomination, Mr. Yang notably is not.
Among the people set to speak at this year’s DNC are former presidential candidates including Sens. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey, Kamala D. Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Despite lacking in political experience compared to the lawmakers, Mr. Yang, a former tech entrepreneur, become a formidable rival to the senators and out-polled several at times.
He ultimately ended his campaign in February, however, and within weeks endorsed Mr. Biden to run as the Democratic nominee in November’s race against President Trump.
And, as noted on Twitter, he has also endorsed several Democratic congressional candidates who have challenged incumbent members of their own party.
Mr. Yang has previously endorsed primary challengers in races against Democrats including Reps. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Frank Pallone of New York, among others.
Speaking to The Washington Post later Tuesday, Mr. Yang reportedly said he will be involved in a video package being showed at next week’s convention.
But he added the lack of a more high-profile speech “makes my job harder to appeal to the 42% of my supporters who said they weren’t going to vote for Joe,” according to a Post reporter.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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