No Labels will not field a third-party candidate in the 2024 presidential election, the group announced Thursday.
“Today, No Labels is ending our effort to put forth a Unity ticket in the 2024 presidential election,” the group’s founder and CEO Nancy Jacobson said in a statement.
“Americans remain more open to an independent presidential run and hungrier for unifying national leadership than ever before,” Jacobson said.
“But No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House,” she continued. “No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, No Labels was reaching out to 30 potential candidates but could not find a workable ticket. Just last week they were rejected by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
The decision also comes less than a week after the death of Joe Lieberman, the former U.S. Senator who helped lead No Labels.
The announcement is good news for Democrats who were concerned that a third-party centrist candidate could take votes away from Biden and end up re-electing Donald Trump.
It is “deeply relieved that everyone rejected their offer, forcing [No Labels] to stand down,” Matt Bennett, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs at Third Way, a center left think tank told Axios. “While the threat of third-party spoilers remains, this uniquely damaging attack on President Biden and Democrats from the center has at last ended.”
