The Serve America Movement (SAM) was a

big tent A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined i ...

political organization A political organization is any organization that involves itself in the political process, including political parties, non-governmental organizations, and special interest advocacy groups. Political organizations are those engaged in politi ...

founded in 2017 by

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

lawyer Eric Grossman. The party achieved its first state party in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with ballot access, but as of November 4, 2021 it lost its ballot status. Under current New York election law, parties have to get over 130,000 votes every two years to maintain ballot access. The party has stated that they intend to surpass the elections vote limit or use petitions to gain access in other states, in order to contest future elections. The party contested its first election in the New York gubernatorial election of 2018 with candidate

Stephanie Miner Stephanie Ann Miner (born April 30, 1970) is an American attorney, politician, and former Mayor of Syracuse, New York. Miner served as Mayor of Syracuse from 2010 to 2018, and is the first woman to have held that office. Prior to her mayoralty, ...

, former chairperson of the

New York Democratic Party The New York State Democratic Committee is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New York. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, and it has an office in Albany.Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. They merged with the Forward Party and the

Renew America Movement The Renew America Movement (RAM) was an American political group founded in 2021 by former staffers from Republican Party administrations, with the intention of working to reduce political polarization in the United States. In 2022 it merged with ...

in 2022.

Foundation and history

The party's founders previously worked as staffers for

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, including CEO Sarah Lenti, who served under

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

as a Director on the National Security Council, and Reed Galen, who worked on three presidential campaigns and is chief strategist of the party. On June 18, 2018,

, a member of the Democratic Party, announced she would run for the

2018 New York gubernatorial election The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro and several minor party candidates. Cuomo received 59.6% of th ...

under the party. Miner subsequently picked former Republican Mayor of Pelham Michael Volpe as her running mate. The former party chair, Scott Muller, stated that he intends to register the party in New York before expanding to create a national party. Miner was required to achieve 50,000 votes in the election, or use petitions, to gain permanent ballot access for the next four years. SAM announced in 2018 that they would work with the newly created, Kansas-based Party of the Center to gather the 18,000 petition signatures necessary to certify the party on Kansas ballots. On August 21, 2018, SAM achieved ballot access for their first electoral race in the New York gubernatorial election in 2018. The party gained 40,000 signatures, which far exceeded the 15,000 required, and the petitions were subsequently deemed valid. This enabled them to form a SAM party within the state of

to contest any future elections they choose to enter. On November 11, 2018, SAM became a ballot-access qualified party in New York state after Miner got 50,672 votes on the party line. On January 14, 2020, SAM filed a lawsuit against a new law enacted in New York which would remove ballot access from parties if they do not receive 130,000 votes or 2% of the presidential popular vote, whichever is greater. In May 2020, SAM named

David Jolly David Wilson Jolly (born October 31, 1972) is an American attorney, former lobbyist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district, based in Pinellas County, from 2014 to 2017. A former Republican, ...

as executive chairman. Jolly is a former Republican who served as a Member of Congress from

Florida's 13th congressional district Florida's 13th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress on Florida's Gulf Coast, reassigned in 2012, effective January 2013, to Pinellas County. See whole Florida state map for 2013, with the 13th district coveri ...

from 2014 to 2017. As of November 1, 2020, there were 649 registered members of SAM in New York. The party has received most of its financial support from Charles Wall, a former vice chairman of

Philip Morris International Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries. The most recognized and best selling product of the company is Marlboro. Philip Morris I ...

, who provided more than 93% of the group's funding in 2020. The party announced they were merging with the Forward Party and the

on July 27, 2022.

Ideology

The party generally took a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

center-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and mer ...

approach, as it was founded by former

administration staff members. As a result of the ideological foundations of the party, it aimed to attract both moderate Republicans, Independents, and centrist Democrats in a movement to work for numerous electoral reforms like Ranked Choice Voting, and

Open primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

Party platform

The party followed a set of general principles rather than an objective ideology of policies, in order to pursue a common outcome without divisive political differences. The party's priorities include: * Addressing

income inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...

* Innovating health care * Improving the education system * Remaining fiscally responsible * Promoting diversity * Embracing free markets * Providing simple and fair tax * Supporting

liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...

domestically and internationally * Undertaking criminal justice reform * Pursue

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...

(including repealing

sore loser law In United States politics, a sore loser law is a law prohibiting the loser in a primary election from then running as an independent or representing another political party in the general election. Some states accomplish the same goal by having ...

s) * Rejecting

isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entang ...

Electoral history

Gubernatorial nominees

Voter registration

New York: In the 2020 New York primary, more votes were recorded for the party than the number of its registered voters.

References

External links

* {{New York political parties 2017 establishments in the United States 2022 disestablishments in the United States Defunct conservative parties in the United States Defunct liberal parties in the United States Political parties established in 2017 Political parties disestablished in 2022 Political parties in Colorado Political parties in New York (state) Defunct political parties in the United States Centrist political parties in the United States