Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, recently announced via X, the social media platform he owns, that he was forming a new political party: the America Party. Musk’s announcement made headlines and captured the attention of political junkies across the country. But for all the attention Musk’s message drew, founding a new political party in the United States takes much more than a single social media post. A vast web of state and federal laws stands in the way. In one state in particular—New York—Musk and the America Party are likely to face their toughest set of legal and political difficulties.

First, New York law prohibits the use of the word “America” in the name of any political party. Under New York’s Election Law, no party may include the words “America,” “American,” or any abbreviation or plural thereof, in its name. The prohibition is designed to ensure that parties are not implying any sort of governmental authority or endorsement. As a result, even if Musk successfully builds public support for his party in the Empire State, neither the party nor its candidates would be allowed to appear on the ballot under the banner of the “America Party.”

The name, however, is just the beginning of the America Party’s legal challenges in New York State. Achieving official party recognition in New York requires overcoming steep electoral hurdles. Under current law, a political party only gains formal recognition if its candidate for governor or president receives at least 130,000 votes or 2% of the total vote for that office, whichever is greater. That’s a far cry from the old party qualification threshold. Until the Election Law was amended in 2020, a party gained official status when its candidate for governor received a mere 50,000 votes. This lower threshold allowed a wide variety of minor political parties to achieve party status. After the 2018 election and until 2020, eight political parties enjoyed official recognition in the state.

But in 2020 then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature raised the bar. The new law more than doubled the vote requirement and added the presidency to the qualifying offices. The result was immediate and had a major impact on how the political game is played in New York State: four of the eight parties lost official status after the 2020 election.

Musk’s stated plans make it even less likely that his party will meet this high threshold. He has announced that his party will focus solely on fielding candidates in races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. That approach may serve his national political ambitions, but it bypasses the very races (governor and president) that New York uses to determine party status. As long as the America Party passes on those contests, it will remain, under New York law, an independent body and not receive the benefits, including an automatic spot on the ballot, given to recognized political parties.

Musk, of course, could change his mind on running candidates for president and governor, but qualifying those candidates for the ballot in New York is no easy task. Without recognized party status, any America Party candidate for president or governor would need to petition their way onto the ballot through an independent nominating petition. These petitions require at least 45,000 valid signatures, including a minimum of 500 signatures from voters in each of one-half of New York’s congressional districts.

Meeting those minimum requirements has proven to be difficult, some might even argue it’s impossible. Since the new petition requirements took effect, no independent candidate for governor or president has successfully met them. In both the 2022 gubernatorial race and the 2024 presidential contest, the only candidates who appeared on the New York ballot were the nominees of the four recognized parties: Democratic, Republican, Conservative, and Working Families.

Musk’s challenges don’t stop at statewide races. Down-ballot candidates affiliated with Musk’s party will also face steep requirements to just obtain a place on the ballot. For instance, a congressional candidate running under the America Party banner will need to gather more than twice the number of valid petition signatures required of a Democrat or Republican candidate seeking the same office. For candidates seeking seats in the state legislature, independent nominating petitions require three times the number of signatures required of Democratic and Republican candidates.

If Musk is serious about the America Party playing a long-term role in American politics, he will need more than an online following. Building a political party and wielding influence in the halls of power takes legal know-how and political savvy.

In New York, Musk will soon find that the New York State Election Law is filled with minefields and pitfalls. He and his new political party have their work cut out for them in the Empire State.