Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor, says 3rd party needed now more than ever

CBS News

3 days ago

Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, says America needs a third political party to challenge the GOP and Democrats now more than ever.
Whitman is co-chair of the Forward Party, which was founded by former New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang. It has endorsed dozens of moderate Republicans, Democrats and non-partisan candidates across the country since 2022.
"We need a third party because it's clear the duopoly we have now is not responding to the people's needs, and that's why people are so frustrated and angry. If you watch what's happening to the parties, they're actually losing support, that more and more people are becoming independents or unaffiliated because they're saying neither of you are working for me," Whitman said Sunday on CBS News New York's "The Point with Marcia Kramer."
Whitman was governor of New Jersey from 1994-2001 and led the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush during his first term. She said disaffected voters and low turnout helped put more extreme candidates in office over the decades since.
"We got lazy about democracy. We kind of assumed, 'It's always gonna be there, I don't have to bother. If it's a rainy day, I don't want to go vote,'" Whitman said.
According to the former governor, out of 500,000-plus elected offices in the U.S., about 70% go uncontested in any given year and 5-10% are never filled.
"That's just wrong. Every voter should have a choice. They should have at least two people for whom to vote," she said.
Whitman also criticized potential redistricting in Texas to benefit Republicans and in California and New York to benefit Democrats.
"How about giving people the kind of diversity in representation that they want," she said. "Whether it's a Republican state or a Democratic state, one party rule, as it were, is not healthy for anybody. You need competition. You need to have that exchange of ideas."
Whitman says the Forward Party is meant to appeal to moderate voters who are more interested in solving problems and reaching a consensus than backing a single platform.
"We're not having a set of principles that say, 'You have to believe in abortion, pro- or anti-abortion, that's what you have to be, that's what you have to talk about,'" she said. "We will support Republican, Democrats and independents as long as they sign our pledge."
The pledge, Whitman continued, is based on the "principles of decency, democracy and diversity."
"I'm almost embarrassed to say we have to have this as a pledge. It's, 'I agree to uphold the rule of law, respect the Constitution, work with anyone to solve problems, create a safe space to discuss controversial issues, and work to ensure that anyone who has a legal right to vote gets to vote,'" she said.
Currently, there are 53 Forward Party candidates or affiliated candidates in office, Whitman said.
Whitman, a former two-term Republican governor of New Jersey, endorsed Democrat Mikie Sherrill over Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the 2025 election.
She believes that Sherrill has a history of working in the middle and Ciattarelli is too aligned with President Donald Trump.
"First of all, Jack Ciattarelli has changed so much from the person that I knew before. He would never be this all-in on Trump and he has said there's nothing with which he would disagree with what the president has done," Whitman said. "We're not a state of people who hate each other. We're built on diversity that I had as a motto when I was governor, 'many faces, one family.' We should celebrate that and clearly the president does not."
"[Sherrill] has been someone who, in Congress, has really worked to get bills through, get bipartisan legislation enacted. And that's what we need. We need somebody, you gotta be tough in New Jersey, and she's tough," Whitman said. "She's not an extreme and that's what I like about her. She has never taken those extreme stands."
Click here to watch the full interview.