Billionaire Elon Musk has announced the launch of his America Party. While Musk has the money to bankroll an election campaign, the US political system isn’t actually made for a third political party, writes Banasree Purkayastha. And Musk can’t run for president since he was not born in the US
l Why Musk wants a new political party?
AFTER US President Donald Trump signed the “Big, Beautiful Bill” that billionaire Elon Musk believes would “cause immense strategic harm” to America, the latter said in a post on his social media platform, X, that he was creating the America Party. The reason, as he puts it, is because Americans are living in a “one-party system, not a democracy,” a criticism aimed at the Republican Party for its support of the President’s tax and spending bill. The bill is forecast to add about $3.4 trillion to the US debt. Musk, once Trump’s biggest supporter, had run a poll on July 4, Independence Day, asking his more than 220 million followers on X if he should create the new political party. Over 65% of the more than 1.2 million respondents had voted “yes.”
Trump has brushed away the announcement, saying that he was saddened to watch Musk go completely off the rails. “He even wants to start a third political party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States… The one thing third parties are good for is the creation of complete and total disruption and chaos,” said Trump.
l Does he have a fighting chance?
MUSK HAS DESCRIBED has described his new party as tech-centric, budget-conscious, pro-energy and centrist, with the goal of drawing both disaffected Democrats and Republicans. However, therein lies a problem. He is trying to challenge Trump while relying on support from Trump’s own voters. Musk enjoyed his strongest level of support — 78% — among people who voted for Trump in November. Also, his selection of Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja as treasurer of America Party hasn’t gone down well with most Americans . Getting support at the ballots also won’t be easy though a Gallup poll in 2024 said 58% of US adults agree that a third major party is needed. And even if his America Party is a success, which seems difficult, Musk can’t run for president since he was not born in the US. And Musk isn’t really the kind of person to play second fiddle.
l Support for America Party
MUSK’S CALL FOR a new party did see a few public figures expressing interest. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has said that he wants to help the party get on ballots, while Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump’s White House director of communications for a brief period in 2017, wrote on X that the country needs new leadership and that he would like to meet with Musk to discuss the party. Both have been outspoken critics of the Trump administration.
In June after Musk’s feud with Trump first erupted, former 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate Andrew Yang had expressed a keenness to join forces with Musk, in the hope that the two of them may have a stronger chance of succeeding. He has been pushing for representation beyond the two-party system, but hasn’t tasted much success with his Forward Party.
l Has a third party ever succeeded?
THE US POLITICAL system isn’t actually made for a third political party. For most of its history, the US has maintained a two-party system dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties. Third parties — including the Progressive Party in the 1910s and the Citizens Party in the 1980s — lasted only for a few electoral cycles. Though others like the Socialist, Libertarian and the Green Party have been around for several decades, no candidate of a third political party has ever won a US presidential election in the 20th or 21st centuries. However, third parties have made news before — in 1992, Ross Perot of the Independent Party ran for president and got 18.9% of the vote, and in 2000 Ralph Nader was the presidential candidate for the Green Party. According to Boston University political history expert Bruce J. Schulman, the most successful third-party candidate was in 1912 when Theodore Roosevelt finished second and got about 27% of the popular vote.
l Guidelines for a new political party
THE FEDERAL ELECTION Commission (FEC) and the individual states have their own sets of rules for a political party to register in the elections. Most states allow parties to have limited recognition by being named as the organisation represented by the candidate in his or her nominating petition. The rules for being on the national ballots are tougher —prospective parties have to adhere to federal campaign finance laws and regulations, register with the FEC and file financial reports regularly. Neither of the two largest third parties in 2025 — the Libertarian Party and the Green Party — is registered in all 50 states. Musk’s America Party could take the same route, targeting states with tossup elections where races are close, like North Carolina and Georgia. However, even that may not be easy. A big reason why third parties struggle is due to the “winner takes all” system, making voting for third party candidates difficult. Only if a third party gets enough support that it looks like it could win, strategic defection would start to work for it and voters who were otherwise supporters of one of the two major parties may decide to vote for America Party. But that’s a big ask.