The third-party group No Labels will likely drop out of the 2024 presidential race if former President Donald Trump isn’t the Republican nominee, according to Politico.
No Labels, a centrist political organization, has been planning on running a third-party ticket in 2024 if there’s a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden in the general election. The bipartisan group believes if Trump isn’t the nominee, that would “close the gap” for the possibility of an independent candidate’s success that the organization saw if there were another head-to-head with Trump and Biden, officials from No Labels told Politico.
“From the polling and modeling that we see today, if it’s any Republican other than Trump, those” 20 million GOP voters would choose the nominee if it were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott or former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, No Labels Chief Strategist Ryan Clancy told Politico. “That [would start] to close off the gap or that opening that we see today for the independent ticket.”
The centrist group will be focusing their decision to move forward with a third-party ticket based solely on polling and voter data, No Labels CEO Nancy Jacobson told Politico. Jacobson said they haven’t made any decisions as to who will be their ticket’s nominee, and are instead trying to gain ballot access in important states. (RELATED: ‘Have Plan B Ready’: Manchin Does Not ‘Rule Out’ Third-Party Presidential Bid)
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 10: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks to reporters before heading into the Senate Chamber for a vote at the U.S. Capitol on May 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders met with President Joe Biden at the White House yesterday to continue to negotiate how to raise the debt limit. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has teased a presidential run as a third-party candidate and has openly talked about No Labels, but said a 2024 decision won’t come until the end of the year. Former Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who previously ruled out a run for the GOP nomination, left the door open to running as an independent and happens to be the national co-chair for the centrist group.
No Labels is seeking a “unity ticket” as an “insurance policy” in the case that Trump and Biden win their party nominations, as the centrist group believes they represent the most extreme ends of the Democrat and Republican parties.
The Real Clear Politics (RCP) averages for both party primaries, based on the most recent polling, indicate that Trump is ahead by approximately 31 points in the Republican primary and Biden is leading the Democratic primary with 62%.
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