Historically, however, third parties have rarely succeeded in the way Musk envisions. Their role is typically limited to highlighting issues and pressuring the major parties.
“The parties that made a big impact didn’t win seats,” said Tamas. “The role of third parties is disruption. To sting like a bee. To cause pain.”
Tamas cited the Progressive Party in Wisconsin and the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party as examples of small parties that pushed for meaningful state-level reforms, such as unemployment relief and banking reforms.
But Musk doesn’t seem to be aiming for that “stinger” role—despite the opportunity being wide open.
“You have the Republican Party moving further and further to the right, into this MAGA space, with no one in Congress willing to stand up to Trump or the movement,” Tamas said.
“This is the perfect opening for a third party. This is exactly what it has historically looked like. But the goal isn’t to replace them—it’s to pull them back to the center.”
“This is how third parties have succeeded in the past: by causing pain, prompting the big parties to adjust themselves to better reflect public demands or address the issues raised.”
Parties focused on winning elections have often fared worse than those that simply disrupted.
For example, the Forward Party, founded in 2022 by Andrew Yang—who had previously run for the Democratic presidential nomination—carried the slogan, “Not left. Not right. Forward.
” Today, the party is nearly absent from the national political landscape, though it still posts occasionally on social media—a July 4 post recently garnered fewer than 40 likes on Instagram.
From the start, Forward claimed that both major parties had grown too extreme, and insisted it didn’t fit into the traditional left-right spectrum.
However, a promise to have no clear ideological stance has proven to be a hard sell to voters.
The party's “elected affiliates” listed on its official website include the former mayor of Newberry, Florida (population 7,300), and a sanitation official from Stonington, Connecticut (population 976).
Support for a third party is indeed real. Polls consistently show that Americans want an alternative.
But what that third party should look like remains uncertain. In a poll Musk conducted on social media, 65% said they supported the formation of a new party, while 34% opposed it.