Third-Party Congressional candidate visits Malden

MALDEN, Mo. - A third-party candidate for US Senate stopped here last week to share his platform and discuss his vision for the nation’s future.

Malden Ward III City Councilman Drew Joyce invited to the area Jared Young, a 38-year-old married father of six from Webb City in Southwest Missouri, who both initiated the Better Party and who is running on the Better Party ticket.

“Jared spent the day in Malden, getting to know the community and experiencing what rural Missouri truly is,” Joyce said. “He saw a community of hard-working individuals who value their freedoms and prefer minimal government interference in their daily lives.

“I support Jared because he puts people before politics,” the councilman continued. “He is running to represent the many Missourians who have been left behind by failed promises and ineffective leadership.”

Joyce further introduced Young, saying the candidate “aims to give a voice to those who are tired of the two-party system and the cycle of big promises” with few results.

“Jared will be a friend and advocate for those dissatisfied with the status quo,” Joyce noted. “In 2024, Congress had a 16-percent approval rating.

“Yet we re-elect these individuals about 90-percent of the time,” he emphasized. “This is a prime opportunity to break the status quo, say enough is enough, and elect someone committed to working on behalf of the citizens.”

Young took time to speak with The Delta Dunklin Democrat and offered a glimpse of himself, his candidacy and the political party he created.

“If you are disgusted with the two parties, frustrated and exhausted with the state of our politics, all the anger and vitriol, there’s an option here that rejects that approach,” Young said. “An option that’s ready to actually go to Washington and sit down with all sides to solve the complex problems that are facing our country.”

Although many have said alternate political parties are built around a kind of very specific ideology, Young claimed that’s not necessarily true of the Better Party.

“The Libertarians, the Green Party, have their world views that appeal to just a sliver of the voting public,” Young explained. “And so they struggle to have broad appeal.

“That’s never been the intent with the Better Party,” he insisted. “The intent with the Better Party is to capture that moderate middle that makes up the biggest block of the voting base, but that is not currently represented by the two parties.”

Statewide polling specifically for the US Senate race in Missouri indicated seven of every 10 Missourians are willing to vote for an Independent candidate, Young said.

“That means there are millions of people in Missouri that are exhausted with the way things are, and they are already willing to cast their vote to change that,” he emphasized.

A chief operating officer at a SWMO human resources firm, Young said he studied law at Harvard and went on to practice at the nation’s capital.

“Went to Brigham Young for my undergrad,” Young said. “Focused on Arabic and Middle Eastern studies.

“So as part of that, I lived in the Middle East for a little while,” he continued. “I lived in Jordan. And also spent a couple of years living in Europe in my early twenties. So, I spent some time around the world, spent some time around the country.”

He settled his growing family near Joplin, from where Young for the last decade led his operation and from where he decided to run for Congress, he said.

“Really out of just a growing frustration, disgust and exhaustion with what the two-party system is producing for us,” Young explained. “And really, just our inability, or our nation’s leadership’s inability, to disagree productively and actually sit down and work through complex problems together.

“And so I reached a point where I felt like I either needed to completely disengage because I was so exhausted and frustrated with it or I needed to go all in,” the candidate added. “And if I was gonna go all in, I just didn’t think I could accomplish what I wanted to accomplish as a member of either one of the parties. And so ultimately, I decided to run as an Independent.”

Although he had no intentions of initiating a new party, Young said he encountered economic hurdles that seemed to invite such a plan.

“When I actually sat down and saw what it would take to get on the ballot as an Independent and the resources it would take, I realized I could either spend those resources just to get myself on the ballot or I could spend the exact same resources to get not just me on the ballot, but to get other like-minded Independents on the ballot as well,” Young said. “One of the biggest challenges running as Independent always is resources, right?

“Can you get enough resources to get your message out?” he asked. “One disadvantage Independents face is they have to spend a significant amount of their resources up front just getting on the ballot. So I eliminated that by creating The Better Party. I eliminated that barrier for other Independents both in this election, but also in future elections.”

Both Young and the party drew immediate attention from an unlikely source, former US Sen. John Danforth, who threw the weight of his support behind Young’s campaign.

Danforth, a staunch conservative, served both as US Senator and Missouri Attorney General. He had backed and mentored Young’s Republican opponent, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.

After Hawley’s actions on January 6 at the nation’s Capitol, Danforth claimed supporting Hawley was the error of a lifetime.

“I thought he was special,” Danforth said of Hawley. “And I did my best to encourage people to support him both for attorney general and later the U.S. Senate.

“And it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” Danforth continued. “I don’t know if he was always like this and good at covering it up or if it happened. I just don’t know.”

Danforth said Young “embraces the ideas that have always defined the Republican Party and have been universally accepted” by its members.

“I am honored by Senator Danforth’s endorsement,” Young said. “We share the belief there are real solutions to complex problems if we can reject the angry, divisive tactics that have overtaken American politics.”

The Better Party was birthed in May, which allowed little time for Young to recruit candidates, he noted.

“There’s actually just one other Better Party candidate, Blake Ashby,” Young said. “He’s running in the 1st Congressional District in the Saint Louis area.

“But the idea is as long as I get at least two percent of the vote in this election, the party gets established,” he continued. “So we’ll have a lot more time and ability to really build out the party and recruit candidates for future elections.”

In addition to Hawley, Young battles for the seat alongside Democratic Party candidate Lucas Kunce, Socialist Equality Party candidate Doris Canaday and a Libertarian Party hopeful who shares his last name.

“W.C. Young,” the Better Party candidate said. “I’ve actually had conversations with him.

“I don’t know how to put this diplomatically,” Jared Young continued. “I don’t believe he’s a serious candidate. Mr. Young lives in a nursing home in Kansas City. He’s not fundraising, is not campaigning. It’s not clear exactly why he decided to run. There’s some conspiracy theories out there about one of the parties trying to hurt me by getting someone else on the ballot that has my last name. I don’t really buy that.”

Young visited both Sikeston and Malden during his road trip to the Bootheel and said the cities he toured reminded him of many agriculturally-based towns.

“SEMO was its own flavor of rural Missouri,” Young noted. “But towns there face the same challenges as so many other rural Missouri towns.

“They need more jobs to keep people from leaving, to attract new talent and increase their tax bases so they can pay for infrastructure and other critical development,” he continued. “Most candidates don’t pay much attention to these towns since they don’t have a lot of votes. But I come from one of those towns. So they’re always on my mind. And they’re what I think of when I think Missouri.”