DNC speakers: What to know about Andrew Yang

close

Video

Dialing night three of the Democratic National Convention

Pollster Lee Carter gets reaction from voters.

Former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang will speak at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday in support of his former presidential primary rival, Joe Biden.

DNC SPEAKERS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS

Yang is expected to speak sometime between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST on Thursday, shortly before Biden takes the (virtual) stage.

Andrew Yang during a Democratic presidential primary debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) (Associated Press)

Thursday is the fourth and final day of the convention. The four-day convention was set to take place in Milwaukee, before the coronavirus pandemic turned it into an online event.

Here are five things to know about Yang:

1. He's not afraid to criticize his own party

Yang accused the Democratic Party of "patronizing" his fellow Americans during an interview on Wednesday ahead of his Thursday convention speech.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

“If we're not standing up for the trucker, the waitress or the retail clerk, who are we standing up for?" Yang told The Washington Post. "Democrats have this tendency to have a message out there and then if you don't like the message, it's like, well, it's your fault. …There's this patronizing element to a lot of what we say and do, and it's hurting us, and it's wrong, unproductive, it's a great way to not win."

2. He broke with his party in his attitude toward Trump supporters

Unlike some of his Democratic primary rivals, Yang openly wooed President Trump's supporters and was reluctant to blame the nation's problems on the president.

"You are missing the lesson of Donald Trump's victory," he said during a February presidential debate. "Trump is not the cause of all of our problems and we are making a mistake when we act like he is. He is a symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years and decades. And it is our job to get to the harder work of actually curing the disease."

3. He spotlighted the concept of universal basic income

Yang ran on a universal basic income to give each adult over 18 years old a monthly benefit totaling $12,000-a-year. The proposal would cost $1.8 trillion and be paid for with a value-added tax on Amazon transactions, Google searches and robot truck miles.

YANG NONPROFIT GIVING OUT $1,000 PAYMENTS TO BRONX HOUSEHOLDS AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

"There is a lot of data on this and what happens is: people's mental health improves, stress goes down, relationships improve, their physical health even improves over time," the entrepreneur told "America’s Newsroom."

The concept has caught on — in July, Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey announced a $3 million donation to a group of 16 mayors leading a universal basic income pilot program.

4. He's a proponent of the four-day workweek

Yang says the United States should “seriously look at 4-day workweeks.”

"3-Day weekends are better than 2-Day weekends. We should seriously look at 4-day workweeks. Studies show that we would be just as productive," Yang tweeted, linking to a Washington Post article. "It would create jobs at the margins and improve mental health."

Fox News' Rob Gearty and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.