Andrew Yang vows mass pardon to all imprisoned for nonviolent marijuana offenses

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Entrepreneur and Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang told a crowd in New Hampshire on Friday that he would pardon every prison inmate convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses if he was elected.

The longshot candidate – who has never served in political office but has a loyal following of supporters who call themselves the “Yang Gang" -- made the comments during an event in Concord hosted by the ACLU of New Hampshire.

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“I'm going to mass pardon everyone who is in jail for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses,” Yang said.

“Americans now recognize just how broken our mass incarceration system is and how much progress we need to make," Yang said during his remarks.

The presidential candidate has called for legalizing marijuana across the country, writing on his website, "We need to resolve the ambiguity and legalize marijuana at the federal level. This would improve safety, social equity, and generate tens of billions of dollars in new revenue based on legal cannabis businesses."

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The New York City entrepreneur – once the longest of long-shots for the White House – has surged in polling and in the number of contributors to his campaign in recent months. Earlier this month, he became the ninth candidate to reach the thresholds needed to qualify for the third and four rounds of Democratic presidential primary debates, which will be held next month and in October.

Fox News’ Rob DiRienzo and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.