The Yankee National Party announced this month that it is finalizing its new platform for the upcoming year while also seeking to endorse and recruit candidates in New England for the 2025 and 2026 election cycles.
According to its website, the Yankee National Party is a center-left social democratic regional party in the Northeast that was founded in 2020. It describes itself as a partner organization to the New England Independence Campaign and the California National Party, although it notes that it is a separate formal group. While the party’s activities and public presence slowed in 2022, it has recently resumed organizing efforts.
“Please join us this coming Thursday to kick off our post-election organizing meetings!” the party posted on X following the election. “Individuals from all parts of the northeast are welcome.”
The party has since begun scheduling regular weekly meetings, with the next one planned for the first week of December. On Sunday, it also announced that it is finalizing its platform for 2025, though no details have been shared yet. The current platform highlights support for regional and local autonomy, natural rights, environmental protections, and a modernized democracy, among other positions.
The party is also accepting endorsement requests for future elections on a case-by-case basis. It has expressed a willingness to back candidates from other parties, specifically naming the Republican, Democratic, Green, and Libertarian parties. For those it endorses, the party pledges to assist with fundraising and to work with those candidates to have the party label listed on the ballot. However, it notes that candidates are “not required to advertise our party in any way as part of your campaign efforts.”
The Yankee National Party appears to primarily focus on Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. However, it states that it is open to working with individuals outside these areas. Shortly after its formation, the party submitted paperwork to enroll voters in Maine, which was accepted the following year, but it notes that this petition has since expired.
While I am generally in favor of decentralization, devolution, regionalism/autonomism and, if popularly supported, separatism and secessionism – shout-out to the Alaskan Independence Party! – I am rather put off by their self-identification as “center-left and social democrats”.
That does not bode well for what they mean by three of their four pillars, “Democracy, Empathy, and Environmentalism”. And casting a quick eye over their platform, the need to add the qualifiers “21st century” and “people-centered” to “democracy” and “economy” respectively, which sound a lot like negations, does not do anything to put at rest my misgivings. Nor do the implications of “environmental preservation” in the light of willingness to back Green and Democrat candidates.
But I suppose I shouldn’t dismiss them completely offhand, so let’s wait and see if my suspicion that they are not “yankees” in any meaningful historic sense proves correct as usual.
@Ryan
Firstly, you are conflating the CNP with “Yes California”, a PAC which the party explicitly distanced themselves from for being too sensible.
Secondly, Yes California is not “a Russian-supported front organization” either, despite being accused of that since the 2016 election by fake news mainstream media urinalists suffering from severe Trump Derangement Syndrome.
And thirdly, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that those who want to secede from the US would feel kinship for and express solidarity with those who have seceded from de facto US colonies like nazi “ukraine”.
@Curious
It depends entirely on whom you ask.
Historically, I believe the British did not consider any of their colonies south of Long Island to be New England. But these days, New England is vernacularly used to refer to any combination of former British colonies which became states that remained in the Union during the Civil War.
I’ve seen it applied to anything from as exclusive as only Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, all the way to as inclusive as Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington DC, and sometimes even Virginia and West Virginia.
Maryland is New England?
California National Party was a Russian-supported front organization. Seeing as a New England separatist group I’ve never heard of is also listed as a partner, wouldn’t surprise me the entity’s backers are just as shady.
I was surprised that their website lists no actual people as officers, organizers or supporters.