No Labels, a bipartisan group created in the wake of the tea party movement, is considering fielding a third-party ticket in the 2024 presidential election, sparking fears among Democrats that such a candidate could pull support away from their party if the next presidential contest is a rematch between President Biden and former president Donald Trump.
The nonprofit, which bills itself as a bipartisan movement — not a “third party” — is mounting a $70 million effort to get presidential ballot lines across the country for 2024, which would allow an independent ticket to run for the White House. Since its founding in 2010, No Labels promoted bipartisanship and sought American voters who may be worn down by growing polarization on the national’s political stage.
Here’s what to know about No Labels — and how it could impact the 2024 election.
What is No Labels?
No Labels describes itself as a bipartisan movement for Americans who may feel “tired of the extremes on the left and the right.” After 87 Republicans were elected to the House on the tea party wave in 2010, No Labels rose amid growing polarization in the American political sphere. The organization’s website says it appeals to voters seeking what the group calls centrist options outside of Democratic or Republican candidates.
While the organization has not focused much on presidential contests since its inception — focusing instead on promoting centrism and bipartisanship in Congress — it is now considering backing a third-party candidate for president in the 2024 election, prompting criticism from outside observers.
What is No Labels trying to do?
The organization is undertaking an effort to get presidential ballot lines in many states ahead of the next presidential election, an effort the group describes as an “insurance policy” against the major political parties if they nominate “candidates the vast majority of Americans don’t want to vote for in 2024.”
No Labels has said that it would only offer a third-party candidate “under the proper environmental conditions.” The ticket would feature a Democrat and a Republican in presidential and vice-presidential slots, the group has signaled.
While organizers say no decision has been made on whether to launch a presidential ticket, critics have warned that a potential third-party candidate backed by the centrist group could pull more support from Biden and boost his Republican opponent — with Trump holding a clear polling lead for the GOP nomination.
The group has gained ballot access in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado and Oregon. The organization most recently gained ballot access in Utah, according to No Labels Chief Strategist Ryan Clancy, and it continues signature-gathering efforts in many other states.
No Labels also stated that it will not, and never will, run or fund a presidential campaign, saying that its only focus is obtaining ballot access across the nation to allow an independent ticket to run.
“We’re creating the opening to potentially nominate a ticket,” Clancy said. “Once that happens, our work is done. That ticket has the responsibility to build a campaign and do everything else that comes with it.”
Clancy said he likes to compare this work to NASA.
“We’re building the launchpad,” he said. “If a ticket gets nominated, they [have] got to build the rocket to come to the White House.”
What does No Labels stand for?
No Labels’ stated mission includes an effort to “reorient” U.S. politics and promote bipartisanship by supporting lawmakers who are willing to work through partisan gridlock and deliver solutions.
The organization helped create the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House, a group made up of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans that backed a number of successful bipartisan bills in Congress, including the bipartisan infrastructure deal of 2021. No Labels has also launched political fundraising efforts to support candidates who back its agenda. On its site, No Labels lists Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) as its Senate allies.
Who leads No Labels?
No Labels is led by chief executive Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic National Committee finance chair, who co-founded the group with Republican strategist Mark McKinnon.
The organization lists former senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as its founding chairman and former Maryland governor Larry Hogan (R) as a national co-chair. Previously, Hogan has defended the group’s 2024 efforts by telling The Washington Post that “the vast majority of people in America are not happy with the direction of the country and they don’t want to see either Joe Biden or Donald Trump as president.”
Advisers for No Labels include former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, a Republican who just lost a Senate bid in the face of Trump opposition, and Benjamin Chavis Jr., a former executive director of the NAACP.
Who funds No Labels?
The group does not disclose its donors, arguing that “we live in an era where agitators and partisan operatives try to destroy and intimidate organizations they don’t like by attacking their individual supporters.”
Last month, however, Mother Jones reported on a list of 36 donors who have helped fund Insurance Policy for America, a group affiliated with No Labels. The list includes donors who’ve contributed millions to Republican causes, as well as donors who backed the last three Democratic presidential campaigns.
Per the publication, while these donors appear to mainly support conservative candidates, many have also supported Democrats — like donor Allan Keen, a Florida real estate developer. Keen is one of the three donors on the list of 36 who also contributed to Trump’s election efforts, giving the former president $135,000 for his 2020 bid. According to FEC records, Keen has supported not only Republicans such as George H.W. Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), he’s also donated to moderate Democrats such as Manchin, Sinema, Rep. Henry Cuellar (Tex.) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.).
What is the connection of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) to No Labels?
Manchin made news on Wednesday when No Labels announced that he will headline an event in New Hampshire next week sponsored by the group. The move stoked speculation that Manchin could mount a third-party presidential bid against Biden in 2024.
Manchin — a former honorary co-chair of the group — is scheduled to appear Monday at the group’s “Common Sense” town hall at St. Anselm College alongside former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (R). Manchin has not announced whether he is seeking reelection next year for his Senate seat and has not ruled out an independent 2024 White House bid.
When asked by The Early 202’s Leigh-Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer about the potential of a No Labels-affiliated Manchin candidacy, Lieberman demurred.
“I’m a great admirer and friend of Joe Manchin,” Lieberman said. “I think really he has walked the walk as a centrist in the Senate. [But] as a chair of No Labels I think I’ve really got to be scrupulously neutral at this point.”
What is No Labels’ timeline for announcing a potential 2024 ticket?
Jacobson, the organization’s chief executive, has said the group has until March 2024 to decide whether to field a presidential ticket. It would pick a member from each major party as its presidential and vice-presidential nominees, she said, with an announcement of their identities coming no later than April 15 of that year, when a No Labels convention is planned in Dallas.
Clancy, the organization’s chief strategist, said that before making any decision on whether to present a ticket, No Labels will make a determination on two things: whether the two major parties’ nominees are, in the view of the public, “unpopular enough,” and whether a potential independent ticket is “compelling enough and appealing enough that it can actually win outright.”
“So there’s obviously a lot of polling we’ll be looking at,” he said. “One of the key things we’ll be looking at is there’s a question we’ve been asking since the end of 2021. And the question is: ‘If it were Trump-Biden and a moderate independent, would you be open to voting for the moderate independent?'”
Why are leaders from both parties worried about No Labels’ 2024 efforts?
As The Post’s Michael Scherer reported, No Labels’ effort to get on states’ presidential ballots set off major alarm bells among both Democratic and Republican circles.
As Michael wrote, critics have argued that No Labels could help Trump get reelected. In April, William Galston, a Brookings Institution policy scholar who helped co-found the group, left the organization over its 2024 effort, saying that while he believes No Labels’ leaders “want what is best for the country,” he cannot support a possible independent presidential candidacy.
“In today’s closely divided politics, any division of the anti-Trump vote would open the door to his reelection,” he said.
On Monday, Michael reported that a number of former lawmakers, led by former House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt, are planning to launch a new bipartisan group to oppose the No Labels 2024 effort. According to private polling commissioned by this new group, a generic “moderate, independent third-party candidate” would pull more votes away from Biden than Trump in a hypothetical three-way race, all but assuring the Republican wins back the White House.
“No Labels equals Trump,” said Greg Schneiders, a former aide to President Jimmy Carter whose firm Prime Group has conducted the polling for Gephardt’s new group.
No Labels’ Clancy dismissed critics who are already calling a potential No Labels ticket a “spoiler” option.
“To most people, a spoiler is one candidate that can’t win and . . . whatever votes they get are coming mostly from one side,” Clancy said, listing as examples Ralph Nader’s 2000 run, Jill Stein’s 2016 candidacy and Cornel West’s 2024 bid.
No Labels, he said, would only pursue a ticket that would have a good chance at receiving at least a third of the vote in a general election, and support from Democrats, Republicans and independents.
“By definition, this would be a ticket that would appeal to the vast middle of the country, and people on both sides of the aisle,” he said.
Has a third-party candidate won a presidential race in modern U.S. history?
No. Since the 20th century began, no candidate running independently of the two major parties has won in a general election, even though a number of alternative parties have offered candidates to voters.
The most successful third-party candidate in the history of U.S. presidential elections is Theodore Roosevelt who, despite having served as president between 1901 and 1909 after being elected as a Republican, ran in the 1912 election under the Bull Moose Party. While Roosevelt successfully surpassed Republicans in the general election, collecting 88 electoral votes, he was defeated by Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Another notable third-party candidate in U.S. history is Ross Perot, an eccentric Dallas billionaire who mounted two independent runs for president, in 1992 and 1996, by tapping into voters’ frustration with the major political parties.
In 1992, Perot ran without party affiliation and received 19.2 million votes, draining support from both major-party candidates. His 19 percent share of the vote was the most for an independent or third-party candidate since Roosevelt’s 1912 run. He couldn’t replicate the same feat in 1996, when he received just over 8 million votes in an effort to unseat incumbent Bill Clinton.
The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
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