As Elon Musk moves to create a third party to upend America’s political system, he’s spoken with one-time Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang about the nascent effort.
Yang, the 2020 White House contender and founder of the independent Forward Party, said in an interview that he has been “in touch” with Musk and his team.
“I’m excited for anyone who wants to move on from the duopoly,” Yang said. “And I’m happy to help give someone a sense of what the path looks like.”
He did not respond to follow-up questions about when they spoke and what else they discussed. Yang amped up his denunciation of America’s two-party system after his failed run for New York City mayor in 2021 as a Democrat. The Forward Party has been recognized in a handful of states and has a goal of achieving ballot access in all 50 states this year.
The conversation between the entrepreneurs and two-party system skeptics provides a rare glimpse into Musk’s behind-the-scenes machinations as he attempts to create the “America Party” — an arduous and expensive task that will test the political clout of the world’s richest man. Musk revealed on Saturday that he would form the party amid his dramatic fallout with President Donald Trump.
Musk, who previously served as Trump’s top adviser, has been enraged over the president’s signature domestic policy legislation that he argues will “burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
Starting a political party is extraordinarily difficult, especially in this hyper-partisan era, and simply obtaining access to the ballot presents legal and financial hurdles. But some business leaders and activists who feel alienated by the nation’s two major parties have been thrilled to hear the wealthy and influential Musk wants to make a real run at forming a third party.
Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived Trump aide-turned-Kamala Harris surrogate, said on Musk’s social media site X that he “would like to meet to discuss” Musk’s new party. Businessman Mark Cuban has also encouraged Musk’s efforts and pointed him to groups that could help his cause.
An aide for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for his super PAC, America PAC, declined to comment.
Musk and Yang are not strangers: The multi-billionaire endorsed Yang’s presidential campaign in 2020 and has spoken positively about a universal basic income, the central promise of Yang’s bid that year.
Yang told POLITICO last month he had reached out to Musk about joining forces to form a third party, both directly and through intermediaries, but had not yet heard back.
“People have come to the Forward Party from all different walks of life and different ideologies,” he said in June. “Elon has a very, very significant following and megaphone, and you can see that with the number of people that have voted on his post about starting a third party. It’s about 5.3 million votes, with 81 percent saying yes, it is time to create a new political party.”
In the wake of Musk’s recent announcement about his aspirational “America Party,” Yang upped his public courtship of Musk.
“In a feud between the guy who enabled space rockets and electric cars and the guy who branded steaks and a fake university, I’d bet on the former,” he posted on X Sunday.
Musk, in return, recently started following Yang on X.