Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that Elon Musk would make a bigger impact by using his resources to convince at least 34 state legislatures to ratify a balanced budget constitutional amendment rather than creating a new political party. “When you do another party, especially if you’re running on some of the issues that he talks about, that would end up, if he funds Senate candidates and House candidates in competitive races, that would likely end up meaning the Democrats would win all the competitive Senate and House races,” DeSantis explained. “We do have a problem in the Republican Party with these D.C. congressmen, they always run saying there’s out of control spending and they’re going to spend less and they never do it,” he continued. “Elon was doing DOGE and a lot of Congress didn’t want anything to do with actually adopting the DOGE cuts,” the Republican governor noted. “The way you do that is expose that in a primary and show that there’s another way forward. Honestly, if you’re concerned about the debt, I wouldn’t even worry about that because I don’t think just electing a few better people is gonna change your trajectory,” he continued. “The incentives in Washington are going to lead to these outcomes really regardless of the outcome of elections at this point,” he added. “You need to do a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and you can do that through the states. You can do it through Article 5. We’ve got 28 states that have approved this. There’s another four or five that are on the docket. Once you hit 34, then you write an amendment and then the states are able to ratify that,” he noted. DeSantis said if Musk wanted to weigh in on that and work on state legislatures, he would have a “monumental” impact. Watch the clip: BREAKING: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis calls on Elon Musk to put his resources toward a BALANCED BUDGET and TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS amendment, says that would be FAR more successful than a new political party. "You need to do a BALANCED BUDGET amendment to the U.S.… pic.twitter.com/bLLDmwrXcI — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 7, 2025 Florida’s Voice noted: Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Elon Musk could make a bigger impact by putting his resources into persuading up to 34 state legislatures to ratify a balanced budget amendment and call a convention, rather than funding a new political party and a handful of congressional candidates. During a press conference, DeSantis warned that starting another party could backfire. “We need a balanced budget amendment and term limits for Congress,” DeSantis said. We need a balanced budget amendment and term limits for Congress. pic.twitter.com/TglkId8Bjb — Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) July 7, 2025 “Backing a candidate for president is not out of the question, but the focus for the next 12 months is on the House and the Senate,” Musk previously said. Backing a candidate for president is not out of the question, but the focus for the next 12 months is on the House and the Senate — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2025 “One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 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 upon announcing his intent to form a new political party. One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 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. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2025 Musk said the party would focus on the 2026 midterm elections. BREAKING: Elon Musk says the America Party will contest the 2026 midterm elections. pic.twitter.com/VyVh3jGwU8 — DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) July 5, 2025 USA TODAY described the difficulties of starting a third party: Trump criticized the new party announcement on social media July 6, writing Musk has gone “off the rails” and that third parties “have never succeeded in the United States.” The United States has maintained a two-party system through most of its history, dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties. While candidates of third political parties have never won a U.S. presidential election in the 20th and 21st centuries, they have had some level of influence in elections over the years. The two largest third parties in 2025 are the Libertarian and Green Parties, though neither is registered in all 50 states. That presents a considerable barrier in efforts to compete with the Democrats and the GOP. The Federal Elections Commission and individual states have their own sets of rules and requirements for a political party to register in elections, a system that can make formation of new parties difficult. Oftentimes, third parties have acted as vote siphons that threaten either Republican or Democratic candidates’ ability to reach a majority, or have mobilized attention over voter issues. The last time a third party candidate made headway in a presidential race was in 1968, when American Independent Party nominee George Wallace won electoral votes from five Southern states. In 1992, Ross Perot of the Independent Party ran for president, and in 2000 Ralph Nader did the same representing the Green Party, but neither won any electoral votes.