Possible 2028 candidate claims he was blacklisted by Kamala Harris' campaign
Former Democratic presidential candidate-turned-independent Andrew Yang claimed that former Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign put his name on a blacklist ahead of the 2024 election.
Yang, who ran in the 2020 Democratic primary, made the claim in excerpts from his upcoming book, "Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?," which were provided to the U.K.-based outlet The Times Wednesday.
According to Yang, Harris' team blocked him from engaging with the campaign after he urged former President Joe Biden to step out of the race after his debate with Donald Trump.
"Kamala Harris’s campaign had put me on a list of people not to use or refer to, due to the fact that I’d ‘crossed the line’ in my disrespect of Joe Biden," Yang wrote. "So dumb. I was kind of glad, to be honest, because if they’d asked me to do something, I would have felt honor bound to comply, but I don’t know how convincing I would have been."
Despite this, Yang endorsed Harris for president, though he called her campaign's decision to avoid him "a sign of a culture problem" within the party.
"If you’re trying your best to win, who cares what I said four weeks ago?" Yang wrote. "Use anyone who might move votes."
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Yang pointed out that Harris and other members of the Democratic Party similarly ousted Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from their ranks despite their previous support for liberal candidates after they did not follow party orthodoxy.
Kennedy, Yang noted, considered endorsing Harris for president before ultimately backing Trump after Harris' team rejected him.
Yang also argued that a similar mindset existed in liberal media, claiming that his job as a CNN contributor was rescinded in 2021 after he registered as an independent.
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"[T]he news came out that I was no longer a Democrat," Yang wrote. "My agent called me during this time and said, ‘Hey, CNN is rescinding its offer to you. Apparently, they don’t want to be seen as supporting a third party.’
"I responded, ‘Wouldn’t that make me more valuable to them, not less, in that I’d be an objective voice that isn’t tied up in one party or the other?’"
Fox News Digital reached out to Harris' office.
CNN informed Fox News Digital that the decision to end contract negotiations with Yang was "based on his intention to launch and serve as the leader of a political party due to the inherent conflict between the roles," adding that the issue was Yang becoming the "leader of the party."
In another excerpt, Yang teased a potential 2028 presidential run, likely under the Forward Party, which he co-founded in 2021.
"[T]he odds of my running again are high," Yang wrote.
The article was updated to include a response from CNN.