Party of Three?

 Since the 2020 election and its aftermath, there's been a lot of talk about "third parties"...mostly centered around the idea of the centrist part of the Republican Party breaking off from what has become a personality cult and forming a new coalition.

Usually, the example given is the end of the Whig party in the middle of the 19th Century and the founding of the Republican Party. But the original GOP didn't just form out of disaffected Whigs...it also included anti-slavery Democrats who refused to support the Democratic Party's Southern-dominated leadership. Essentially, the more radical wings of both parties coalesced into a new organization--and it required prominent members of both parties to declare themselves as Republicans.

I don't think there's much chance of anything similar happening in the next five to ten years. It would have to be the centrist Republicans joining with conservative Democrats...and there just aren't that many of the latter, certainly not any who are as disaffected with their own leadership as the centrist Republicans are with theirs.

Could it be done by enticing independents, the folk not aligned with any party? I don't think so. There are only two independent members of the Senate (and none in the House), both are from New England, and both not only caucus with the Democrats but they are more liberal than the majority of the Democratic members.

A third party? Not unless some prominent Republican steps forward and makes the move.