Democrats are concerned that a political party has gained ballot access in three states in order to provide voters with a viable third-party option for president in 2024, and that the group will act as a “spoiler” to hand the presidency to Republicans.
No Labels, a group that claims to want to give voters a non-extremist presidential option next year, has garnered enough support to appear on ballots in Colorado, Arizona, and Oregon in 2024. The group’s critics range from those who call it a blatant attempt to harm President Biden’s re-election chances to those who call it outright grift.
“Rather than fielding a spoiler who would re-elect Trump or a Trump-like Republican, No Labels is on track to field a spoiler who would re-elect Trump or a Trump-like Republican,” think tank Third Way said in a memo this week.
As President Biden appears to be planning a re-election campaign and Republicans prepare to challenge former President Trump for the GOP nomination, the movement to form a new third party is gaining traction on both the right and left.
Third-party candidates have received little support in the presidential elections. Third Way’s warning memo, which Politico first reported on Tuesday, argued that third-party candidates have no chance of winning a general election and would mostly pick up voters who would otherwise vote for the Democratic candidate.
Third Way argued, citing former presidential candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, that when third-party candidates make it to the November election, it only benefits Republicans.
“In No Labels, Biden and Trump are portrayed as equally extreme, and their ticket is framed as an antidote to a rematch. But this is all a ruse. Joe Biden has presided as a mainstream moderate, enacting more bipartisan legislation than anyone could have imagined “According to the memo from Third Way.
“No Labels is committed to fielding a candidate who, whether on purpose or not, will provide a critical boost to Republicans while posing a significant challenge to Biden. As a result, they will make Donald Trump’s return to the White House far more likely, if not certain.”
However, No Labels insists that its “unity ticket” will garner “equal” support from Republican and Democratic voters. The bold path to victory proposed would secure electoral votes from purple and swing states across the country.
In response to criticism, No Labels said on Thursday night that “no one” at the organization has “any interest in fueling a spoiler effort.”
“It may become clear in the future that the public does not want an independent ticket or that there is no way for one to win. Alternatively, we may discover that there are no candidates with broad appeal or the courage to take on this challenge. If that happens, No Labels will not support any presidential candidate “the statement went on to say.
It is unclear who would be the No Labels candidate or what the main policy positions would be.
However, the group’s policy playbook includes policies that are appealing to both Republicans and some Democrats. The 2016 “Policy Playbook For America’s Next President” lays out reforms to simplify the tax code, secure energy independence by 2024, balance the budget by 2030, and reduce regulations, all of which are generally favorable to GOP lawmakers.
However, the playbook contains policies that many Republicans regard as non-starters, such as a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants (though only if “border enforcement were much stronger”).
No Labels has set an April 2024 nominating convention, months ahead of the Republican and Democratic conventions.
No Labels has been active in courting centrist lawmakers in Washington, including senators Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Manchin and moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine attended a No Labels conference in Florida in February, where they praised centrism as a way to approach legislating in a divided government.
“The center will still be where people will have to gather in order to get anything done,” Manchin said, according to Politico.
“Not just a ruse. A virtual certainty that it would vote for the Proto-authoritarian, “In September, former American Enterprise Institute scholar Norman Ornstein said of No Labels.
In recent months, there has been no shortage of internal strife at No Labels. The group’s highest-paid employee, Mark Halperin, resigned earlier this week. The disgraced journalist was hired in 2021 after resigning from ABC News following multiple women’s allegations of sexual misconduct.
