Updated July 9, 2025 at 3:02 AM MDT
Elon Musk says he's forming a new political party, perhaps to compete for key congressional contests. It likely won't be easy.
The polarizing billionaire had been a close adviser to President Trump, but began floating his idea for the America Party after their very public falling out and Musk's criticism of Trump's newly enacted domestic policy bill, largely because it's expected to add trillions to the national debt.
It's unclear if Musk — who in May said he would scale back his political spending — will actually try to turn his plan into reality. But he said his proposed party is aimed at providing a political home to centrist voters — or, as he put it, the "80% in the middle."
Trump himself has ridiculed the idea, writing that "The System seems not designed for [third parties]. The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS."
Clearing ballot hurdles
Qualifying to appear on a ballot as a third-party candidate is difficult and pricey in many states.
Richard Winger, who runs a website called Ballot Access News, says these days it's pretty much unheard of for a third party to get on the ballot in most U.S. House districts.
"Libertarians managed to run just over half the seats back in 2000," he said, "but ever since then, no third party has been able to run for the U.S. House in more than a fourth of the seats."
A big reason for that is the patchwork of state laws that decide who gets on a ballot. Winger says many state lawmakers like tougher qualifying rules for third-party candidates.
"When they write the law on how a new party or an independent gets on the ballot for district office — in other words, U.S. House and state legislature — that affects them directly," he said.
As a result, third-party and independent candidates often have to spend a lot of time and money gathering signatures from voters in their district to petition to appear on a ballot.
And compared to statewide efforts, gathering signatures for a congressional race is harder because those district boundaries are "wiggly," Winger said.
"Everybody who pays attention to politics knows how crooked and jagged, chaotic the boundaries are," he said. "If you go out on the street, a lot of people will sign. But the trouble is, they [likely] live in the wrong district."
Musk may be seeking a narrower goal for his America Party, however.
On X he wrote, "One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts." He added that "would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people."
So what seats he picks could determine exactly how tough it would be to get on a ballot.
"I don't know what state he has in mind, but he will definitely have ballot access problems if he picks some states," said Winger, who added that Alabama, Georgia, Illinois and North Dakota have particularly tough laws.
Spoiler campaigns
It's one thing to get on a ballot, it's another thing to win.
Mac McCorkle, a professor of public policy at Duke University, told NPR on Tuesday that it is unlikely the America Party would do anything more than take some votes away from the two major parties.
"The role for somebody like Musk — which might not be that hospitable to him, he might not like the idea — is that of a spoiler," he said. "Not that he wins House seats, but that he shaves margins, especially off Republican candidates, and Democrats win."
Lee Drutman, a political scientist with the liberal New America think tank, says based on what's known of an agenda, Musk's new party could have some appeal.
"[Musk] has some positions that would be better on the left, some positions that would be better on the right," Drutman told NPR's Bobby Allyn. "He's kind of just anti-system. So there's not a lot that holds his political beliefs together, and that's true for a lot of Americans who feel disaffected with the existing two-party system."
Yet within this system, Drutman added, "Like most third parties before him, third parties are just wasted votes and spoilers."
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