Maryland Forward Party

3 Core Pillars

		Free People All people have a right to reach their highest level of potential, and where barriers exist, it’s our responsibility to help remove them.
		Thriving Communities Our neighborhoods should be safe, highly educated, and building from a self sustaining vibrant economy.
		Vibrant Democracy All voices wanting to participate in our political process, should have an opportunity to be heard.

OUR VALUES

Diverse Thinking Isn't Just Welcome, It's Required

• The Forward Party will welcome new ideas and fearless conversations around the issues of the day. We won’t silence debate or refuse to adapt to the modern world.

Bottom-Up, Not Top Down

• The Forward Party will empower leaders to find solutions that work in their communities. We won’t dictate a rigid, top down policy platform and expect it to work for all Americans.

Come as you are — Left, Right, or Center

• The Forward Party will create a political home for everyone willing to set aside the partisan extremes and find practical ways to make this country better. We won’t be checking IDs to see if people are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents.

More Listening, Less Talking

• The Forward Party will ask you what we can do for your community. We will not ask what your community can do for us.

Work Together, Not Against

• The Forward Party will strive for collaborative solutions, make sure they work, and try something else if they don’t. We won’t ignore problems so that we can use them to drive wedges between Americans; nothing gets done when opposing views are treated like enemy positions.

Grace and Tolerance

• The Forward Party will approach each other with grace and tolerance, finding ways to pick people back up rather than knock them down. We won’t cancel people or cast them out of the party for not falling in line.

Our values are codified in our Candidate Pledge, which we use to hold ourselves and our affiliate candidates/elected officials accountable.

We’re not just a new party, we’re a new kind of party.

The Maryland Forward believes that every voice should be heard. American citizens should be empowered to fairly choose their own candidates and then decide who is best suited to represent their community. We want elections to be inclusive, fair, and available to share new ideas.

Voting Reforms

• * Promotes majority support: Ranked-choice voting ensures that the winning candidate has the support of a majority of voters. This is because the candidate who wins must receive more than 50% of the votes, which means they have to be the preferred candidate of a majority of voters.

• * Reduces strategic voting: In a traditional “first-past-the-post” system, voters may feel pressured to vote for the “lesser of two evils” instead of their preferred candidate to avoid “wasting” their vote. Ranked-choice voting eliminates this issue by allowing voters to rank their preferred candidates in order, without worrying about spoilers or wasted votes.

• * Encourages positive campaigning: Candidates in a ranked-choice voting system are incentivized to reach out to a broader range of voters and appeal to a wider base of support, rather than just their core supporters. This can lead to more positive campaigning and fewer negative attacks on opponents.

• * Saves money: By eliminating the need for primary elections and runoffs, ranked-choice voting can save money for both taxpayers and campaigns. It can also increase voter turnout by reducing the number of times voters need to go to the polls.

 

Open Non-Partisan Primaries

• * Expands voter participation: Nonpartisan primaries can encourage more people to participate in the election process, especially independents and members of minor parties who might not have a chance to vote in a closed primary.

• * Reduces polarization: By allowing voters from different parties to participate in the same primary, nonpartisan primaries can foster more moderate candidates who are less likely to be extreme and more willing to compromise. This can help reduce the polarization that often characterizes modern politics.

• * Increases accountability: Nonpartisan primaries can make candidates more accountable to the broader electorate, not just the members of their own party. Candidates may be less likely to cater to the interests of the extreme factions of their party and more likely to listen to the needs and concerns of all voters.

• * Lowers costs: Nonpartisan primaries can save taxpayers money by consolidating multiple primaries into a single election. This can reduce the costs of administering the primaries and encourage more people to vote in a single, unified election.

• * Improves representation: Nonpartisan primaries can ensure that the eventual winner of an election is truly representative of the entire electorate, not just a small segment of the population. This can help to promote diversity and inclusivity in the political process.

 

Independent Redistricting Commissions

• * Decreases gerrymandering: One of the primary benefits of independent redistricting commissions is that they can help eliminate the manipulation of district boundaries in order to give one political party an advantage over another. Independent commissions are less likely to draw districts that favor one political party over another, as their members are not motivated by the same political interests as elected officials or political parties.

• * Increases fairness: Independent redistricting commissions can also help ensure that elections are more fair, by ensuring that electoral districts are drawn in a way that represents the interests of all voters in the area. This can help reduce the influence of special interests and ensure that voters have a greater say in the electoral process.

• * Improves representation: Independent redistricting commissions can also help ensure that underrepresented communities have a voice in the political process. This can be especially important for minority communities, who may be marginalized or excluded from the political process due to gerrymandering or other systemic factors.

• * Restores public trust: Independent redistricting commissions can help increase public trust in the electoral process, by ensuring that district boundaries are drawn in a transparent and impartial way. This can help reduce concerns about electoral fraud, and ensure that the electoral process is legitimate and fair.

We're not just a new party, we're a new kind of party.

Our Party is structurally different from the two major parties. We’re not just a new party, we’re a new kind of party. Forward party establishes a value-based not policy-based system, then the party aligns with candidates with shared values, who then have full autonomy to establish their own policies to most authentically represent their constituents.