Elon Musk is facing a new wrinkle in his plans to create a third-party challenger to the political “duopoly” because President Donald Trump has delayed appointing new members to the Federal Election Commission.
In order for Musk’s proposed America Party to formally become a national political party, the FEC must issue an advisory opinion approving the party, which will allow the entity to raise and spend money at the federal level.
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However, the six-member commission currently lacks the four-member minimum needed to conduct essential business. Allen Dickerson departed in April, Trump fired Ellen Weintraub in February, and Sean Cooksey resigned in January, leaving the FEC largely powerless and lacking a quorum needed to issue the opinion sanctioning Musk’s America Party.
And Trump has yet to signal a move to nominate members to fill the FEC’s bench, putting Musk’s efforts to form a centrist alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties in an indefinite standstill. The nominees face the additional step of being confirmed by the Senate, adding another delay to Musk’s plans.
The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on Trump’s timeline to nominate new members to the FEC.
“It’s definitely annoying and something that would need to be addressed if this [Musk’s party] got any more momentum,” Collin Anderson, a political scientist at State University of New York at Buffalo, told NOTUS.
However, Musk only needs to register with the FEC if he wishes to make the America Party a national endeavor.
Choosing to focus on gaining access to individual state ballots could allow Musk to avoid registering with the FEC, campaign finance attorney Brett Kappel told Axios.
“This would allow his party to be recognized as a Section 527 political organization, which must register with the IRS but has no dollar or source limitations,” he said.
Should he go the FEC route, Musk will still need to embark on the costly and lengthy process of gaining ballot access across all 50 states. And that effort could face serious barriers from Republicans, many of whom have expressed concern that a third-party effort could hurt the GOP, just as then-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced considerable obstacles from Democrats during his 2024 bid for the White House.
“Getting on the ballot anywhere is no small thing. Anybody can file anything with the Federal Election Commission saying, ‘I’m a candidate for this office,’ but actually getting on a ballot is a much bigger deal and it takes a lot of time and effort,” Kappel told the outlet, adding that he expects Republicans to “fight tooth and nail” to keep Musk’s candidates off the ballot.
And if the party attained the FEC’s approval as a national party, Musk would be subject to its cap on political contributions, which would only allow him to give $10,000 a year to a state political party or $44,300 to a national committee.
Musk has signaled that the America Party’s early platform will focus on reducing the national debt, protecting free speech, and spurring innovation in the energy and technology sectors.
His goals include targeting two to three Senate seats as well as eight to 10 House districts.
“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 said.