North Carolina’s ballot access laws create an uphill battle for third parties seeking to get their candidates on the ballot, requiring more than 14,000 registered voters to sign their petition for access. Five of those parties were on the ballot in last year’s election, and six have started the petition process for the 2026 election cycle.

But only one party so far has made any serious progress toward getting 14,000 signatures. That’s the North Carolina Forward Party, which had amassed 2,200 signatures so far. 

The Forward Party’s chair, Patrick Newton, spoke with WUNC's Colin Campbell about the centrist party founded at the national level by former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

Newton sees ballot access for the Forward Party as a path for candidates who are too moderate to win a Democratic or Republican primary. Newton also spoke about the party’s proposals for election reforms, its work backing candidates at the state and local level, and how the Forward Party compares to last year’s “No Labels” party organization.