Elon Musk’s plan to create a new political party puts him in the company of a long line of business and political titans looking to upend the two-party system that has dominated U.S. politics since almost the beginning. From the Anti-Masonic Party in the early 1800s to last year’s ill-fated No Labels, nascent political parties have been a near-constant feature of U.S. politics. Some are impactful, others ephemeral, but few endure for long. Though the Republican and Democratic parties have had a lock on political power since the Civil War, they have remade themselves over and over, often when faced with the prospect of losing voters to third parties. The name Musk chose, the America Party, is bland compared to some of history’s more memorable movements — the Know-Nothing Party, the Bull Moose Party, the Dixiecrats. Musk’s plans remain murky, but some of his public comments suggest he’s eying a limited goal, focusing on a handful of House races to gain influence without trying to win a majority. “One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” Musk wrote on X. “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. Here’s a look at how third parties have made their mark through American history, even without winning the White House or congressional majorities. Anti-Masonic Party The first third party, the Anti-Masons emerged in 1828 in opposition to the Freemasons, a secret society. The disappearance of William Morgan, a former Mason who had threatened to expose secrets, fueled widespread paranoia about the shadowy group, which many believed was covertly controlling the government. The Anti-Masons evolved into a broadly anti-elite party. They were the first party to hold a convention to nominate a presidential candidate and to adopt a party platform, pioneering enduring staples of American democracy. They held seats in the House for a decade, peaking at 25 after the 1832 election. That year, Anti-Mason presidential nominee William Wirt won Vermont, becoming the first third-party candidate to get electoral college votes, though his seven electoral votes did not affect Andrew Jackson’s decisive victory over Henry Clay. The Anti-Masons were largely absorbed into the Whig Party. Free Soil Party “Barnburner Democrats” and “conscience Whigs,” anti-slavery factions, joined with remnants of the short-lived abolitionist Liberty Party to form the Free Soil Party after the Mexican American War. Free Soilers won a handful of House seats between 1848 and 1854. Former President Martin Van Buren, who had served one term as a Democrat a decade earlier, was the Free Soil presidential nominee in 1848 but didn’t win any electoral votes. As the U.S. expanded westward, the Free Soil Party advocated banning slavery in the new territories but not abolishing it in the places it already existed. The party described its principles with the slogan “free soil, free speech, free labor and free men.” Free Soilers pitched opposition to slavery on economic rather than moral grounds, arguing that expanding slavery would take jobs from Northern whites. The party dissolved after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 thrust slavery further into the political fray, upending the political coalitions. Despite its short life, however, the Free Soil Party […]