A new political party is working to plant its flag in Worcester County with the ultimate goal of appearing on the ballot and recruiting local candidates in 2026.
Now active in 24 states, the centrist Forward Party is pitching itself as an alternative to politics as usual in Maryland. What’s different, party leaders say, is how the organization isn’t top-down with a national committee or predetermined platform, but is bottom-up, relying on independent voices and grassroots policymaking.
Kicking off the party’s efforts in Worcester County is Chase Phillips of Snow Hill.
After getting involved over the summer, Phillips, 27, is still technically a Forward Party volunteer, not yet a formal “county lead.” He is planning to host an informational roundtable session about the organization sometime next month at the Berlin Public Library.
Phillips said he likes the party’s focus on progressive electoral reforms that would include ranked choice voting, open primaries, term limits, and other measures to enhance constituents’ representation – as Phillips puts it, “people over party.”
“Better representation includes higher civic engagement, better voter turnout, competitive elections,” he said. “People think that this, you know, the current state of politics is dysfunctional, and I would agree, but I think that the solution to that is having more options and having elections that are more competitive.”
A former moderate Democrat who’s supported pragmatic Republicans, Phillips argues the Forward Party can resonate locally because Worcester’s small communities may often feel overlooked.
And, as a card-carrying member of Gen Z, Phillips said “it’s quite heartbreaking, honestly, to think about my future, to be consumed with the level of political dysfunction that occurs sometimes even at the state level or locally, but primarily at the national level,” he said.
Please don’t fall for it. It is another democrat scheme to siphon off republican voters
A Democrat by any other name is still a Democrat.
Nothing short of an epiphany wrapped in a eureka moment will sway a Dem.
This, sadly, isn’t one of them.
Ranked choice voting elects Democrats and opening up primaries allows party nominees to be chosen outside the party. Both of these policies favor Democrats.