New third-party talk rises as Democrats fracture

two-party system – From Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene discussing third-party paths to James Carville arguing Democrats may need a “schism” with democratic socialists, the duopoly’s grip is being challenged from multiple directions as Americans increasingly say neithe

For years, the two-party system has presented itself as the only game in town. But this week, the talk didn’t stay safely inside either party. It spilled outward—into plans for a “third party” on the right and a fight over whether the left flank should even remain part of the Democratic caucus.

The pressure point is unmistakable: more Americans have been saying neither major party represents them. And now, prominent political insiders are reacting to that disillusionment by openly discussing alternatives—some looking outward, others looking inward.

On the right. Tucker Carlson told the Columbia Journalism Review that he is going to “help build a third party.” He framed the decision as the culmination of a resentment that. in his telling. has been building since 2025. when the U.S. launched a wave of strikes on Iran. Carlson said it boiled over after President Donald Trump launched what he described as an even bigger attack earlier this year.

In that same interview, Carlson said he hasn’t spoken to Trump since the “regime-change war began.” He added: “I’m not interested in talking to him. I feel sorry for him. He’s not a man in charge of his own life at this point.”

Carlson also argued that the two-party system has become “a one-party state posing as a democracy. ” saying it “needs to be broken.” He said he is “going to do everything I can to bring that about.” Even as he speaks about reshaping the political landscape. Carlson insisted he wouldn’t run for office himself.

His stated idea for what that break should mean is blunt. He said his party’s plans are vague, but he believes in “ending all immigration today.” He also said he can’t justify immigration “when half of all white-collar jobs are going away because of AI.”

The possibility of a third-party project doesn’t stop with Carlson. Former Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told Piers Morgan this week that she is having “serious conversations” about launching a third party after her public split with Trump and the Republican Party. Greene said it’s difficult to launch a third party and that it isn’t something that gets off the ground in just a couple of campaign cycles. She described it as “a movement that has to be developed and would take time to develop.”.

In the middle of the conversation, Andrew Yang has already been building rather than debating. The former Democratic presidential nominee has spent four years working on his Forward Party, pushing for ballot access and recruiting candidates.

As of May 2026, Forward qualifies on four state ballots—Florida, New Mexico, South Carolina and Utah—according to Ballotpedia. Yang’s most recent access victory is New Mexico. which announced this spring that his party had achieved official minor-party status after submitting more than 5. 500 signatures. Forward is now recruiting state house and county candidates ahead of the November election. In Utah, it is also fielding more than two dozen candidates.

Forward is co-chaired by Yang and former New Jersey Democratic Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. The party’s pitch doesn’t focus heavily on ideology; instead, it emphasizes process. Its platform centers on ranked-choice voting and open primaries, branded as “Not Left. Not Right. Forward.”

Even as new political projects test the edges of the current order. the official ballot landscape still shows how rare alternatives remain. In 2026. only three minor parties are recognized on ballots in more than 10 states: the Libertarian Party (35). the Green Party (20). and the Constitution Party (12).

But the sharpest rupture may not be outside the Democrats—it may be inside them.

Further left, the fight isn’t about leaving to build something new so much as about who gets to stay. After two candidates backed by self-proclaimed democratic socialist and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unseated incumbents in New York’s June 24 primaries and a third candidate won an open seat. Democratic strategist James Carville spoke out against the movement on his podcast.

Carville’s comments were personal and precise. When discussing Darializa Avila Chevalier—one of the Mamdani-backed candidates to win—Carville said their political views were entirely different. On his podcast, he said: “Lady, I ain’t in the same party as you. I’m sorry. ” and added. “I’m just not. and I actually do think it’s time for Democrats to talk ‘the S-word.’ ‘Schism.’ I really do.”.

During an interview with NewsNation, Carville said Avila Chevalier shouldn’t be seated in the Democratic caucus at all. At the same time, he didn’t say he would reject the entire left flank. He has said he could be in the same party as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., but not in the newer democratic socialist-aligned group of candidates.

Not everyone took Carville’s stance as sympathetic. Some critics pushed back, including The Nation, which published an article shortly after Carville’s remarks pointing to what it called the irony of praising pluralism while calling for a purge.

All of this is playing out against a wider national shift in how Americans describe themselves politically. The political divisions aren’t limited to insiders. More Americans now say they don’t fit neatly into either major political party. a finding drawn from a recent Pew Research Center study that grouped 10. 000 adults into political camps beyond just Democrat or Republican.

One example from that study was the “Order and Opportunity Left.” Those voters back tougher public safety policy while also wanting bigger government.

Still. even if the newer groupings make intuitive sense to people trying to locate themselves. they don’t automatically solve the problem of how winners are chosen. University of Rochester political science professor James Druckman warned about how far to take finer divisions in a winner-take-all two-party system. He told Straight Arrow: “I think the report is helpful to a point. but the reality is the electoral system in the U.S. means voters have two choices and so differentiating groups at too fine-grained a level. while interesting. does not necessarily help explain voting.”.

The discomfort with party power isn’t new. In his 1796 Farewell Address. George Washington warned at length against “the baneful effects of the spirit of party. ” fearing factions would allow one group to seize power and subvert the will of the people. A few years earlier, James Madison—more resigned—wrote in Federalist No. 10 that he considered factions inevitable in any free society. arguing that a large. diverse republic could dilute any single faction’s power rather than eliminate parties altogether.

What’s changed now is the volume and the immediacy. The current duopoly isn’t just being criticized; people inside the political system are sketching out what comes after it—whether that means building outside the party system. like Carlson and Greene discussing third parties and Yang’s Forward Party pressing for ballot access. or arguing inside the Democratic coalition about whether certain members belong.

The tension is clear in the facts themselves: while some are talking about breaking the two-party structure. others are describing a need to break—if not the party itself. then the lines of who counts as part of it. And as Americans increasingly say the major parties don’t represent them. that gap between what people feel and what the ballot still offers is only widening.

United States politics two-party system third party Tucker Carlson Marjorie Taylor Greene Andrew Yang Forward Party Christine Todd Whitman ranked-choice voting open primaries James Carville Zohran Mamdani Darializa Avila Chevalier Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Pew Research Center George Washington Madison Federalist No. 10