{"id":2457372,"date":"2025-07-09T10:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fec-commissioner-vacancies-delay-musks-america-party-approval\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:14:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:14:38","slug":"fec-commissioner-vacancies-delay-musks-america-party-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fec-commissioner-vacancies-delay-musks-america-party-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"FEC commissioner vacancies delay Musk\u2019s America Party approval"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffec-commissioner-vacancies-delay-musks-america-party-approval%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2457372&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Elon Musk&#8217;s efforts too establish the America Party, a third<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >-party political movement aimed<\/a> at challenging the current Democratic and Republican dominance, are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/climate-extremists-block-runways-at-2-airports-causing-dozens-of-flight-cancellations\/\" title=\"Climate extremists disrupt air travel, leading to flight cancellations at 2 airports.\">facing delays due<\/a> to vacancies on the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC currently lacks the quorum needed to issue an advisory opinion required to formally recognize the America Party as a national political party, which is essential for raising and spending money at the federal level. The delay is linked to President Donald Trump&#8217;s postponement in nominating new FEC members, with no clear timeline for filling the vacancies. <\/p>\n<p>Musk could potentially bypass the FEC process by focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-air-concerns-about-biden-primary-challengers-and-third-party-campaigns\/\" title=\"Democrats express worries about Biden primary challengers and third-... campaigns.\">gaining ballot access<\/a> state-by-state, registering instead as a Section 527 political association with the IRS, which would have fewer fundraising restrictions. However,securing ballot access nationwide is a costly and lengthy process and may face resistance from Republicans concerned about the impact of a third party on their electoral prospects.<\/p>\n<p>The America Party aims to prioritize reducing the national debt, protecting free speech, and promoting innovation in energy and technology. Musk plans to target a small but potentially decisive number of Senate and House seats to influence legislation. Nonetheless, the path to formal party status and electoral success remains uncertain amid regulatory hurdles and political opposition.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">FEC commissioner vacancies delay Musk&rsquo;s America Party approval<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2169297\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/aclk?sa=l&amp;ai=DChsSEwjRzvL-76-OAxVFcUcBHcUlJqQYACICCAEQABoCcXU&amp;co=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwprjDBhBTEiwA1m1d0r9q_2Cl3QptkrfPE5GSlOSbgh1di3B98t2yykT_Liv2YEveQ2qZlhoCP9AQAvD_BwE&amp;category=acrcp_v1_48&amp;sig=AOD64_3UgO0gue9h8Oi-6M-GE55EwkvYzw&amp;q&amp;adurl&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjNsOj-76-OAxWTEFkFHfwyLLYQ0Qx6BAgPEAE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Elon Musk<\/a> is facing a new wrinkle in his plans to create a third-party challenger to the political &ldquo;duopoly&rdquo; because President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a> has delayed appointing new members to the Federal Election Commission.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In order for Musk&rsquo;s proposed<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3463597\/musk-signals-formation-of-america-party-following-x-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> America Party<\/a> to formally become a national political party, the FEC must issue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/files\/legal\/aos\/2025-07\/2025-07.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">an advisory opinion<\/a> approving the party, which will allow the entity to raise and spend money at the federal level.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3466250\/biden-physician-dr-kevin-oconnor-house-oversight-committee-deposition\/\">Biden physician Dr. Kevin O&#8217;Connor shows up for House Oversight Committee deposition<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3466331\/mike-collins-georgia-senate-run-raffensperger-waits\/\">Mike Collins considers Georgia Senate run as Raffensperger waits in the wings<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3464681\/democrats-republicans-race-define-big-beautiful-bill\/\">Democrats and Republicans race to define the &#8216;big, beautiful bill&#8217; to voters<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>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&rsquo;s America Party.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And Trump has yet to signal a move to nominate members to fill the FEC&rsquo;s bench, putting Musk&rsquo;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&rsquo;s plans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not respond to the<em> Washington Examiner<\/em>&rsquo;s request for comment on Trump&rsquo;s timeline to nominate new members to the FEC.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely annoying and something that would need to be addressed if this [Musk&rsquo;s party] got any more momentum,&rdquo; Collin Anderson, a political scientist at State University of New York at Buffalo, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notus.org\/2026-election\/elon-musk-third-party-fec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">told<\/a> <em>NOTUS<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>However, Musk only needs to register with the FEC if he wishes to make the America Party a national endeavor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Choosing to focus on gaining access to individual state ballots could allow Musk to avoid registering with the FEC,  campaign finance attorney Brett Kappel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/07\/07\/elon-musk-new-political-party-name-requirements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">told<\/a> <em>Axios<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Should he go the FEC route, Musk will still need to embark on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3461022\/elon-musk-america-party-proposal-could-it-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">costly and lengthy process <\/a>of gaining ballot access across all 50 states. And that effort <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3466196\/republicans-concern-elon-musk-split-gop-america-party-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">could face serious barriers<\/a> 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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Getting on the ballot anywhere is no small thing. Anybody can file anything with the Federal Election Commission saying, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m a candidate for this office,&rsquo; but actually getting on a ballot is a much bigger deal and it takes a lot of time and effort,&rdquo; Kappel told the outlet, adding that he expects Republicans to &ldquo;fight tooth and nail&rdquo; to keep Musk&rsquo;s candidates off the ballot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And if the party attained the FEC&rsquo;s approval as a national party, Musk would be subject to its cap on political contributions, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/help-candidates-and-committees\/making-independent-expenditures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">would only allow him<\/a> to give $10,000 a year to a state political party or $44,300 to a national committee.<\/p>\n<p>Musk has signaled that the America Party&rsquo;s early platform will focus on reducing the national debt, protecting free speech, and spurring innovation in the energy and technology sectors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX&rsquo;s mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell\/Pool via AP, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3460092\/trump-musk-spacex-tesla-government-contracts-big-beautiful-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>TRUMP THREATENS TO PULL SUPPORT FOR SPACE X AND TESLA AFTER MUSK&rsquo;S &lsquo;BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL&rsquo; CRITICISM. CAN HE DO THAT?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>His goals include targeting two to three Senate seats as well as eight to 10 House districts.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; Musk<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1941125459628179641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> said<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2169297\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2169297\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FEC vacancies stall Musk&#8217;s America Party national approval<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2457373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Elon-Musk-Donald-Trump.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[58332,58720,10614,4250],"class_list":["post-2457372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-america-party","tag-commissioner-vacancies","tag-fec","tag-musk"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Elon-Musk-Donald-Trump.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457372"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2457376,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457372\/revisions\/2457376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2457373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}