Like many Americans, the 2016 election left Andrew Yang deeply troubled about the direction America was headed. Extreme wealth inequality and decreased economic opportunity were driving unprecedented political polarization, and, as Yang knew firsthand from his exposure to the tech world through his work with startups via his nonprofit Venture For America, trends in automation were about to make things even worse. The problem was so vast, there was only one thing he could think of to try to solve it. He would have to run for President of the United States.

 

Longer than Longshot is a verite documentary that follows the extraordinary story of Yang’s unusual bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Based on director HaiTao Wu’s extraordinary access to Yang’s campaign from the early days when Yang was unknown on the national stage, it is a character-driven documentary in the tradition of The War Room, Mitt, and Knock Down the House that paints a portrait of Yang, the ideas underlying his campaign, and the political movement that he built along the way.