Elon Musk soft-launched a third party over the weekend, and so far, the billionaire seems to be manifesting his “America Party” into existence.
Hard-launching the party, which he first posted about through a poll on X, would involve filing official paperwork, such as Federal Election Commission forms, and signing up to petition in individual states. Musk has not done those things yet.
What Musk has done, however, is open the door for what could be the most well-funded attempt ever at launching a third party. Following his forceful digs at President Donald Trump about the One Big Beautiful Bill reconciliation package, and his seeming breakup with the president, Musk is starting big. On X, Musk said the America Party would involve narrowly targeting eight to 10 House seats and a smaller number of Senate seats to establish a presence in Congress.
But it’s not really clear who, exactly, would constitute this new party, from the candidates to staff to supporters. All of it depends on who, like Musk, needs a new political home.
A Home for the Weary … and Maybe the Crypto Bros
Despite polling showing dissatisfaction among Americans with both parties—four in 10 voters overall and 76 percent of independents said in a June CNN poll that neither party has strong leadership or can get things done—it remains unclear whether there’s a true grassroots centrist phenomenon for Musk to tap into.
“This is the attention economy,” a national strategist who has worked with minor parties says. “You’ve got to get people to care.” Musk’s target audience of centrists, they say, is mostly tuning out the news.
In a midterm environment where the most dedicated partisan voters tend to show up, it’s hard to imagine an unprecedented flood of third-party voters. However, this strategist, who also has strong ties to the crypto community, said that the coalition could combine with their overlapping Silicon Valley comrades to give this yet-to-be-formed party a boost. Cryptocurrency donors, this source noted, are beginning to feel “jaded” about not securing many wins from the new administration despite pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2024 campaign on Trump’s behalf.
“Elon is famously very pro-crypto,” the independent party strategist tells me, “and I wouldn't be shocked if he starts hammering those lanes [of crypto and the tech right], whether it's on X or ads … You've got to build a coalition. One of the problems with third party is that you haven't had enough populace or even political critical mass in terms of people and excitement.”
Silicon Valley’s new arrivals to the GOP also came away empty-handed on multiple fronts from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, most notably with a 10-year ban on state-level regulation of AI falling by the wayside after Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee pulled her support, a development reported by WIRED.
Musk’s ability to drive attention is the best thing this fledgling third party could have going for it.
“Hatertainment and angertainment,” the strategist says, “it’s probably a good thing for a third party.”
The Suspects
So, if this party were to actually materialize, who would possibly represent it?
A number of politicians and operatives threw out a few names to WIRED: US representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, who’s drawn Trump’s ire for voting against the One Big Beautiful Bill and Musk’s praise for vocally opposing it. In the Senate, it could be Pennsylvania Democrat (for now) John Fetterman or even Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who proved to be the deciding vote for Trump’s precious bill along with Vice President J.D. Vance as the tiebreaker. (Murkowski, notably, is already in a state with open primaries and does not have to worry about being paralyzed by a Trump-endorsed challenger in the way other Republican members fear.) A pair of Michiganders, Peter Meijer and Justin Amash, who both previously served in the House—Amash even left the GOP to become an independent then Libertarian while serving from 2019 to 2021—were also mentioned. (All of the politicians here didn’t reply to WIRED’s request for comment.)
Andrew Yang also knows a thing or two about trying to make a third party work. He’s used his outfit, dubbed The Forward Party, to get more states to change their election laws to favor open primaries and ranked choice voting. He hasn’t had much success, but he’s not against Musk’s idea.
“There are multiple members of Congress who could be enlisted to a new party,” Yang tells WIRED in a text message. “There’s a lot of discontent within existing officeholders who are at odds with their own party. That combined with races that could be contested by independents opens up a lot of opportunities.” He personally suggested Massie and Murkowski, while agreeing Amash and Fetterman could also be potential fits.
Yang did not answer WIRED’s questions about whether he would join forces with Musk or if he thought the billionaire was too polarizing of a figure to lead a successful third party. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Yang said he had been in touch with Musk about the America Party.
Keeping his options open like this is classic Yang, a national campaign strategist who’s worked with him and been involved in other third-party efforts tells WIRED.
“One of the best parts—and probably worst parts, according to some—about Andrew's philosophy on life and building things, is like, if people want to help you, let them,” this strategist tells me, requesting anonymity to candidly discuss Yang and Musk. “So, he's fine working with people that some would find antithetical or even immoral to various things … I’m pretty confident he’d be happy to work with whoever, frankly.”
When WIRED relayed this comment to Yang, he replied “No comment” with a grinning emoji.
The strategist also pointed to some former Trump enemies and organizations who might consider jumping on board.
Among them would be alumni of Florida governor Ron DeSantis presidential campaign, who have an established relationship with Musk.
Phil Cox, one of DeSantis’ top strategists and vendors in his 2024 presidential campaign, booked ample work with the billionaire’s America PAC supporting Trump. This was mainly facilitated through his firm P2 Public Affairs and another firm, GP3, along with its supporting affiliates, referred to by industry insiders as “the rollup.” (Included in the rollup is Blitz Canvassing, the firm responsible for the poor treatment of workers in Musk’s get-out-the-vote operation, as reported by WIRED.) WIRED reached out to all of the politicians mentioned and did not get a comment. Cox did not reply to a request for comment.
A source familiar with Cox’s thinking tells WIRED in a text message that the relationship between Cox and Musk will not continue with the America Party. “There’s not a shot in hell Phil would work for a third party. He’s dedicated his life to electing Republicans and supports Trump 100%.”
On Monday, DeSantis brought up Musk’s third party, unprompted.
DeSantis suggested Musk’s new party would have “a monumental impact”—if he focused on a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, and later another amendment on congressional term limits—but could also throw races to the Democrats. “Look, I’m a Republican,” he said. “You know, I don’t wanna see that happen.”
In a statement to WIRED, Molly Best, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary, claimed he could not have brought up Musk unprompted because other people had previously been asking him about the third-party venture.
Best also said I was being “purposefully obtuse” in my characterization of the governor’s remarks on the America Party as "unprompted.” In the interest of the reader, and in defense against flacks trying to say words have completely fungible definitions, here is how DeSantis chose to introduce the topic: “And the final thing I’ll say is, I’ve been getting asked about this idea of this Elon Musk political party, and I just wanted to say that Elon Musk has been one of the most innovative entrepreneurs not just in our country's history but probably in world history, and I think he’s done a lot, he’s got a lot more left in the tank, obviously.” DeSantis would go on to chastise Congress for not codifying more cuts from Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and being reckless with the national debt.
The other plausible shop, the independent strategist suggested, is Tusk Strategies, a firm stocked with alumni of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, which also worked on Yang’s mayoral campaigns and has ties to the Eric Adams administration. Bradley Tusk, the firm’s founder, says that he’s skeptical of Musk’s efforts so far.
Tusk tells me in an email that unless Musk can “demonstrate a real vision and agenda” without saying and doing “crazy things that repel the people and candidates you need, then I don’t think anyone good would work for him on this unless they only care about the money (which some people do but most people who get into politics did so because they have some genuine beliefs and interests in policy too).”
Otherwise, it will likely be slim pickings for Musk. “Staffing is one of your biggest challenges. Who works on these campaigns?” the strategist tells me. “Generally, it’s political consultants.”
For younger staffers, it’s an even bigger challenge when it comes to how one weighs the reputational risk of stepping out against their own party. “If you wanna be a comms director, if you wanna be the next David Axelrod, it’s better to work for the party,” the strategist says, recalling struggles the Dean Phillips 2024 presidential campaign had with securing quality vendors and consultants because of fears they would lose out on major Democratic clients.
A Quick History Lesson
In typical Johnny-come-lately fashion from Musk, his certainty around the strength of his new party ignores the pile of failed third parties littered across US history.
It’s been Democrats versus Republicans for quite some time: the top five minor parties in the country, combined, still can’t even crack 1 or 2 percent of registered voters on their rolls. The best case scenario for Musk could be something akin to Ross Perot’s Reform Party. Perot made his biggest splash in the 1992 presidential election, where won 18.9 percent of the popular vote as an independent. He also won 8.4 percent of the popular vote in 1996. However, despite the Reform Party gaining ballot access in all 50 states that year—something Musk isn’t even shooting for, at least not yet—it failed to get any candidates elected to Congress.
This historical pattern is part of what has Democrats feeling absolutely fine with whatever Musk chooses to do. “I hope Elon Musk mounts the most successful creation of a third party in political history,” Democratic pollster Evan Roth Smith tells WIRED, “and that it lasts exactly 18 months.”
A third party like Musk’s, other pollsters believe, would take away more support from Republicans than Democrats. The stock market also provides some reason for optimism on the left.
“I think it’s overrated,” says a Democratic strategist who requested anonymity to avoid entangling other clients. Musk’s role at Tesla, they say, is the main reason they think he won’t follow through with much. After his initial promise to step away from politics, going to war with Trump and the entire GOP by leading a third party is the last thing his company’s board and shareholders want to see right now. “And at some point,” the strategist adds, “they will take the keys away from him.”
The Chatroom
Among the steps Musk hasn’t taken to make his proposed party a reality is registering a trademark for it. WIRED’s Tim Marchman spoke with Thomas Kuracina, a Nevada inventor who did so July 5—the same day Musk announced the America Party’s formation.
“My goal is to work with them because they didn't file it,” says Kuracina. “I reserved it for them. I can assign it to them. I can have them file it and I can abandon mine. There are many ways that they can obtain it. I'm not out to extort them.”
What Kuracina wants is a seat at the table. Lamenting the influence of billionaires and the effects of the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United vs. FEC on US politics, he proposes that the America Party should call for a two-week primary and two-week general election that would be held online. His other proposals involve hiring large numbers of patent examiners and doing away with pork and the presidential pardon; he also supports the impeachment of President Donald Trump. He believes that Mark Cuban would be a better face for the project than Musk, who he says is too compromised from his time with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“Mr. Musk is not a popular guy. You don't hacksaw, you don't chain-saw change,” says Kuracina. “His theatrics were not very good. That was not a good representation of who we want.”
Experts tell WIRED that if applicants for America Party-related trademarks like Kuracina aren’t actually using, or demonstrating an intent to use, the marks for commerce, it will be difficult to secure the rights to them. Kuracina, who says he hasn’t heard from Musk or anyone representing him, tells WIRED that he has no plans to use the mark “at this point in time.” (A New Jersey man who applied to register “The America Party” for use on hats and T-shirts for babies, children, and adults the day after Musk’s announcement did not reply to WIRED’s request for comment.)
Simply registering doesn’t mean someone will be granted a trademark. (“A lot of people think that if you just slap something on a T-shirt, that counts as trademark use and you can get a registration for that,” says Rachael Dickson, senior trademark counsel at Lloyd & Mousilli. “That's generally not true.”) Outside the context of direct negotiations, though, opportunities to dispute Kuracina’s right to the trademark won’t come up for months dating from the time of the application, meaning that Musk’s right to use his brainchild for marketing purposes could remain unclear for some time to come.
Anthony Lupo, listed as attorney of record on trademark paperwork for Tesla, tells WIRED he can’t comment.
Have any ideas for a fourth party? Leave a comment on the site or send your thoughts to [email protected].
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