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The first step is to stop pretending like the old one still works. It seems convenient that there’s still a skeleton of a functional party there to rebuild from, but it’s so thoroughly poisoned that it’s probably better to abandon it and start fresh.

I'd lean towards one of the existing parties (not including the two main here, and DEFINITELY NOT THE GREEN PARTY), because getting on the ballot has requirements depending on the state.

Unfortunately, the options mostly suck. If you want left, the largest is technically the green party, but going back to my previous comment, the green party is completely captured garbage. At no point since its founding has it behaved like anything but a spoiler party. Don't waste the time here.

Next up in terms of size would be the Working Families Party, which has ballot access in 3 states. To get around this, they caucus with the Democrats like the Vermont Progressive Party (Bernie). You can learn more about them here:

https://workingfamilies.org/

And of course wikipedia and the like as well. Unlike the green party, they actually campaign at the state and federal level and get people in - for example, Rashia Tlaib. To me, the WFP presents the most viable strategy, since they are on the larger side, have some degree of ballot access, and coordinate with the democrats to run WFP candidates - which, understandably will bother some, but presents an opportunity (imo) to take people from known Dem to knowing WFP, and still pushing the same WFP candidates. Getting information out to people is an uphill battle, so using a known party is an advantage here, and presents the opportunity to take over.

The FEC will recognize a new party when they raise / spend money over thresholds with a federal election, and it is the FEC which determines if they have national committee status. The FEC doesn't need to be involved for state or local elections, but must be brought in for any federal elections.

State/local will have different requirements, but its primarily going to be around fund raising and signatures. You need to show that you've got enough support to matter to gain ballot access. Some states allow "designations", where its not a recognized party, but you can list the association all the same, and then its just getting enough signatures to get on the ballot in that location.

Generally speaking, an individual's ballot access is from:

• Being nominated by a state-recognized party
• Independent by petition (getting signatures)
• Running as a write in candidate

Running as a write-in can work for local, but will be insanely hard at the state level and near impossible at the federal level. Independent (and maybe with a designation) is the next jump up and only requires signatures, and then the state-recognized party would generally mean you've gotten FEC approval at that point.

Start local, work your way up. Hope this helps answer, its obviously much more than a (somewhat quick) comment here....

Edited to add: Obviously there are other parties, such as the Libertarian Party, that are larger than WFP. I excluded the centrists and right-wing parties, because, you know, thats the trash we have currently.

You have to take down the entire dictatorship first.