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- Elon Musk announces 'America Party': What to know about third parties in the U.S.</p>
<p>Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY July 8, 2025 at 2:00 AM</p>
<p>Elon Musk has announced he is forming a new political party, and he did it the day after President Donald Trump signed the megabill that the pair have publicly sparred over for weeks.</p>
<p>The billionaire said in a post on his social media platform, X, July 5 that he is creating the America Party 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 sweeping tax and spending bill. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the legislation will increase the national debt by $3.4 trillion over a decade, an increase Musk has repeatedly lambasted.</p>
<p>Musk, once a close ally to Trump and a major funder of his 2024 presidential campaign, said the party would aim to unseat the Republican lawmakers in Congress who backed the bill in next year's midterm elections. He is the world's richest person, worth $405 billion, according to Forbes, and he spent nearly $290 million to help Trump and other Republicans win elections last year.</p>
<p>'Train wreck': Trump slams Musk after billionaire announces new political party</p>
<p>A third political party: Has one ever succeeded in the U.S.?</p>
<p>Trump criticized the new party announcement on social media July 6, writing Musk has gone "off the rails" and that third parties "have never succeeded in the United States."</p>
<p>The United States has maintained a two-party system through most of its history, dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties. While candidates of third political parties have never won a U.S. presidential election in the 20th and 21st centuries, they have had some level of influence in elections over the years.</p>
<p>More: House passes Trump's megabill, securing a big win for the GOP agenda</p>
<p>The two largest third parties in 2025 are the Libertarian and Green Parties, though neither is registered in all 50 states. That presents a considerable barrier in efforts to compete with the Democrats and the GOP. The Federal Elections Commission and individual states have their own sets of rules and requirements for a political party to register in elections, a system that can make formation of new parties difficult.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, third parties have acted as vote siphons that threaten either Republican or Democratic candidates' ability to reach a majority, or have mobilized attention over voter issues. The last time a third party candidate made headway in a presidential race was in 1968, when American Independent Party nominee George Wallace won electoral votes from five Southern states.</p>
<p>In 1992, Ross Perot of the Independent Party ran for president, and in 2000 Ralph Nader did the same representing the Green Party, but neither won any electoral votes.</p>
<p>Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025.</p>
<p>The most successful third-party candidacy was in 1912, according to Boston University political history expert Bruce J. Schulman, when Theodore Roosevelt finished second and got about 27% of the popular vote. Schulman said in an interview in October 2024 with the university's newspaper that third parties in the United States can be understood using historian Richard Hofstadter's analogy − that third parties are like bees, and once they have "stung," or got their message across, they die.</p>
<p>"With the more substantial third parties, like those that get enough support to qualify for debates, they often form out of a social movement due to the two major parties not addressing a concern or constituency," Schulman said. He said that they "can produce important changes in the political system," including influencing a major political party to adopt its message, but that "none in the last century has ever threatened to take power."</p>
<p>A few public figures express interest in Musk's proposed third party</p>
<p>Musk has suggested he would use his proposed third political party to influence a select number of congressional races.</p>
<p>"Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people," Musk wrote on X on July 4 after a poll he posted asking users to vote on whether he should create a third party. As of July 7, the social media poll has 1.2 million participants, and 65% have selected yes.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump said on June 5, 2025, that he asked "crazy" Elon Musk to leave his administration and threatened to take away the tech tycoon's government contracts, as a growing row over the US president's budget bill triggered a bitter public divorce with his top donor.</p>
<p>A few public figures have expressed interest in supporting the party. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said on social media that he wants to help the party get on ballots, and Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly was Trump's White House director of communications in 2017, wrote on X that he would like to meet with Musk to discuss the party. Both have been outspoken critics of the Trump administration.</p>
<p>In a 2024 Gallup poll, 58% U.S. adults said a third major party is needed in the United States because the Republican and Democratic parties "do such a poor job" of representing the American people. The results were the 12th consecutive time Gallup recorded a majority response on the question, with an average 56% support level for a third party since 2003. The 2024 survey results were down 5 percentage points from 2023's record high, according to Gallup data.</p>
<p>Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY; Reuters</p>
<p>Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and on X @KathrynPlmr.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does the U.S. have third parties? Elon Musk announces 'America Party'</p>
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