Billionaire Elon Musk, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump before recently falling out with him, announced on Saturday the formation of his own political party, dubbed the "America Party."
"Today, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO wrote on his social networking site, X," "the America Party was founded to give you back your freedom."
Elon Musk, a vocal opponent of the US president's budget bill, particularly its increase in the national debt, had promised in recent days to establish a new political party if the bill passed.
The entrepreneur launched a poll on his social network X on Friday, the US holiday and the day of the announcement amid much fanfare surrounding Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
"By a two-to-one margin, you want a new political party, and you'll get it," the tech mogul said Saturday, after 65% of the approximately 1.2 million respondents answered "yes" to the question of whether they wanted to establish an "America Party."
He added, "When it comes to bankrupting our country through waste and corruption, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy."
Musk was a close ally of Donald Trump, funded his 2024 presidential campaign, and was tasked with cutting federal spending through his leadership of the Efficiency Commission before the two billionaires engaged in a public spat in May.
It remains unclear what impact the new party might have on the 2026 midterm elections, or the presidential election two years later.
After the poll was released on Friday, Musk floated a potential plan to try to capture seats in the House and Senate and become the "swaying vote" on key legislation.
"One way to do this," he wrote on his platform, "is to focus on just two or three Senate seats and eight to ten House districts."
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election every two years, while only about a third of the 100 members of the Senate, who serve six-year terms, are elected every two years.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, cannot run in future presidential elections, as candidates must be born in the United States.
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