The worlds greatest innovator has set his sights on Americas biggest problem: the two-party system that is ripping our social fabric, bankrupting our nation, and failing to solve our most basic problems.
Elon Musks “America Party” is one of those ideas that may seem unlikely now, only to appear inevitable and obvious in hindsight. The signs have been evident for years that the two parties are abandoning the majority of voters, and that the voters are abandoning them in return – with independents now far outnumbering both Republicans and Democrats.
Up to this point, two barriers have prevented large-scale disruption: money and entrenched power. Elon Musk is the rare individual who could break through both.
He is off to a good start by identifying Congress as the initial battleground, hinting at targeting two or three Senate seats and up to 10 House races in the midterms. Still, he could face a multi-year challenge in getting his party on the ballot and electing enough candidates to meaningfully change the balance of power in Washington. It is time America may not have, given our growing divisions, unsustainable debts, and dangers abroad.
But there is a shortcut to achieving what he, and many Americans, want. While the America Party is getting off the ground, Musk can focus on creating a faction in Congress comprised of America Party members he can elect in the 2026 midterms, along with America-aligned Republican and Democratic incumbents. Call it the “America Caucus.” Given the narrow margins in the House and Senate, a small-sized faction could become kingmakers on Capitol Hill, capable of advancing or blocking legislation.
No Labels can attest to the fact that there are sitting members in both parties who are eager to build an alternative faction that can operate free from the dictates of their parties or the increasingly powerful activist groups that surround them. We know because we work with them, convene them, and raise money to enable them to take tough votes in critical moments.
Weve seen both the promise and the limits of this approach. When the right moment arises, these Republicans and Democrats can help pass major bipartisan legislation, like the 2021 infrastructure bill. But they cant yet force action on major issues like immigration or the debt or block the gargantuan reconciliation bills – like the just-passed One Big Beautiful bill – that have become the main domestic policymaking vehicles for both parties. On these titanic matters, the party machinery remains too strong – unless and until theres an independent faction with financial backing from outside the system.
Enter Musk. His resources could give these Republicans and Democrats the freedom to be independent, even if it would not make electoral sense for them to give up their partisan affiliations – at least not yet.
In short, Musk can haveboththe America PartyandAmerica-aligned Republicans and Democrats willing to caucus with this bloc. They would be bound by both common beliefs and values, as well as a common outside support infrastructure that gives them the freedom to operate independently.
This approach also helps address the problem of ballot access, which No Labels knows from experience is the single greatest challenge to disrupting the two-party system. Ballot access takes enormous financial resources and grassroots prowess – which Musk has – but even then, it can take years, and the state parties and aligned interest groups will fight ruthlessly to keep out competition.
While early reporting has been eager to paint the America Party as a rebuke to President Trump and Republicans, an America Caucus could ultimately emerge as an asset to a president from any party. For years, the minority party in Congress has embraced maximum resistance to the rival White House. Sometimes its on principle. Often, this posture is driven by a cynical desire to deny the president a win, regardless of how beneficial it might be for the country. A new America Caucus could, for the first time in a long time, put country before party.
Campaigns and parties are a means to an end, and that end is governing. We share Elon Musks goal of better governance that is more aligned with the American people. So do many of the current members of Congress. We know because we work with them.
They are held back by an arthritic and broken system – one that will not reform itself. Fixing it requires innovation and disruption. There is nothing more American than that, and no one better to deliver it than Elon Musk.
Nancy Jacobson is a founder of No Labels, a national organization of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to a new politics of problem solving.
