Farmville Mayor Brian Vincent says he’s had enough of the two-party system, which he says is a duopoly. That's why he is now affiliating with the Forward Party, the brainchild of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
The mayor says the two political parties have failed on issue after issue, including the immigration detention center in Farmville.
"If people want to change the structure around immigration, then I would advocate for them to elect people who are solution-based," Vincent says. "Because immigration has been a political football in which people have campaigned off of it and raised money off of it. So, if the objective is that people don't like the way the system is operating, then start electing people who are going to change it."
The list of people who have tried and failed to create lasting third parties is long. Legal expert Rich Kelsey says that's because the system was set up by partisans -- especially the code talk about local electoral boards.
"They talk about appointing members from the two parties, which is fascinating because there's nothing in our Virginia Constitution or certainly in the U.S. Constitution about having two parties," Kelsey argues. "But who writes the laws? The two parties."
In the late 1800s, a third-party known as the Readjusters broke through the two-party system and elected a governor. But they quickly flamed out as Democrats took control and created a system of one-party domination that lasted generations.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
