U.S. Senate candidate Jared Young launches the Better Party for moderate independents

Jared Young, a Missouri candidate for U.S. Senate, announced the formation of a new political party, inspired by his campaign slogan, “We can be better.”

“We're trying to communicate to people that look, our politics doesn't have to be as ugly and divisive as it's become. We're all on the same team,” Young said. “Some of us have different ideas for how to achieve our goals, but we're really all striving for the same goals. And so we want to take that concept of ‘we can be better’ and apply it to the party. It's the Better Party.”

The Better Party will not only allow for Young to run as an independent candidate, but for other candidates to do so as well.

“I basically had a choice. I needed 10,000 signatures to be able to get on the ballot as an independent Senate candidate,” Young said. “But I also had the choice of using the same resources to gather 10,000 signatures to create a new political party in Missouri, which would not just get me on the ballot, but would also be able to get other like-minded people who are trying to run as independents and provide an alternative to a broken two-party system.”

The Better Party embodies the desire to have greater political choice through voting for independent candidates outside of the traditional two-party system, which Young feels has shifted to the extremes on both sides. He decided to form the new party after interacting with frustrated Missouri voters during his Senate campaign.

“The inability of many Republicans and Democrats to work together on key issues is bad for Missouri and bad for our country,” said Adam Balinski, chairman of the Better Party. “Jared is not only stepping up to lead change in Washington, he is blazing a path for other independent candidates that will benefit Missouri voters for years to come.”

Forty-three percent of Missouri voters do not claim affiliation with either the Republican or Democratic parties, while 33% identify as Republican and 27% identify as Democrat, according to a survey of 524 likely general election voters in Missouri conducted by Y2 Analytics from May 24-30, 2023.

This same poll found that 70% of all voters in the state would consider supporting an independent or third-party candidate in the 2024 U.S. Senate race, while 64% of Missouri voters think that the two major parties do such a dismal job representing Americans that a third option is necessary.

Young hopes to have collected the 10,000 necessary verified signatures to make the ballot by early summer. He has not yet identified other candidates who will run on the Better Party ticket, though some interested parties have already reached out to him about it.

After making the ballot, any political party must receive at least 2% of the popular vote for a statewide candidate in order to remain on the ballot for the next two election cycles.

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While there are other efforts to create alternative political parties, such as No Labels and the Forward Party, Young’s initiative with the Better Party differs in the fact that it is solely focused on Missouri.

“I don’t have national aspirations for this party. This is a Missouri-focused party,” Young said. “I think the environment is unique in Missouri, that there's an appetite for this.”

Additionally, Young is hopeful that his efforts with the Better Party will break down barriers for other independent candidates seeking ballot access in Missouri.

“I'm not looking to create a fully-fleshed, bona fide third party,” Young said. “I'm just looking to create a vehicle for moderate independent candidates to be able to get on the ballot.”

Third-party candidates often face challenges that those running as Republicans and Democrats do not, due to the fact that they first have to use their resources to get on the ballot, then expend additional efforts campaigning to voters and gaining name recognition.

“The biggest hurdle for independents is ballot access, and it forces them to waste a ton of resources early on in their campaign on just getting on the ballot,” Young said. “So I’m hoping that eliminating this early barrier for them will allow them to be more successful in future campaigns and ultimately give Missourians more choices in elections, which is, I think, what we're all looking for.”

Young was formerly the chief acquisitions officer for G&A Partners, a human resources outsourcing and payroll services company based in Joplin. While he didn’t grow up in Missouri, he, his wife and their six children have made it their home, living in Webb City for the past eight years.

Young has a law degree from Harvard and a bachelor’s degree in Middle East Studies and Arabic from Brigham Young University.

In his early 20s, he completed internships in every branch of government, learning the intricacies involved in the operation of cities, states, and the country. He said his experience living abroad in Europe and the Middle East gave him an appreciation for diverse cultures and skills in international relations that he feels would serve him well in office.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: U.S. Senate candidate Jared Young launches new Better Party